Upcoming Sessions

Monday, May 5: Black Teachers: A Pedagogy of Organized Resistance

Historians Jarvis Givens and Imani Perry, in conversation with Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian and Rethinking Schools executive director Cierra Kaler-Jones, will discuss the Black Teacher Archive, a digital portal centralizing materials created by professional organizations of African American educators, historically referred to as Colored Teachers Associations (CTAs).

Monday, June 2, 2025: Traveling Black: A Long Journey of Resistance

Historian Mia Bay and Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian will discuss Bay’s book, Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance, which explores racial restrictions on transportation and resistance to the injustice.

Past Sessions:

Monday, September 16: We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance

Historian Kellie Carter Jackson, in conversation with Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian and Rethinking Schools executive director Cierra Kaler-Jones, will discuss her latest book, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, which is a reframing of the past and present of Black resistance — both nonviolent and violent — to white supremacy.

Monday, October 7: Racism and Resistance in the North During the Civil Rights Movement

Did you know that the biggest Civil Rights Movement demonstration of the 1960s happened in New York City?

Did you know that at the same time people were pressing for desegregation in Montgomery and Birmingham, they were doing so in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Boston?

Scholar Brian Jones, in conversation with Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian, will shed light on the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the North and ways that those stories can be included in the curriculum. Jones recently worked on the New York City Civil Rights History Project.

Monday, November 18: An American Coup: Wilmington 1898

Documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen and Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian will discuss Wilmington 1898: An American Coup, a new PBS documentary directed by Richen and Brad Lichtenstein that examines a white supremacist massacre of Black residents of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Monday, December 2: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt

Scholar Orisanmi Burton and Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian will discuss Burton’s book, Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt, which argues that prisons are a domain of hidden warfare within U.S. borders.

Monday, January 13, 2025: The Healing of Organized Remembering: The Struggle to Teach Truth

Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian and Rethinking Schools executive director Cierra Kaler-Jones will discuss Hagopian’s latest book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education and the campaign to fight back against bans on books and education.

Monday, February 10, 2025: Reconstruction Robbery: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank

Historian Justene Hill Edwards and Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian will discuss Edwards’ book, Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank, a comprehensive account of the Freedman’s Bank and its depositors.

Monday, March 24: King of the North: Martin Luther King’s Freedom Struggle Outside of the South

Historian Jeanne Theoharis and Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian will discuss Theoharis’s book, King of the North: Martin Luther King’s Freedom Struggle Outside of the South.

Monday, April 14: Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins

Historian Mary Phillips, in conversation with Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian and Rethinking Schools executive director Cierra Kaler-Jones, will discuss her book, Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins. This is the first biography of Ericka Huggins, a queer Black woman who brought spiritual self-care practices to the Black Panther Party.

Teach the Black Freedom Struggle