Of course, Carlitos wants to help but he cannot think of a way until he sees his mother on TV making a speech in support of the strike. Finally, Carlitos knows how he can show his mamá how proud he is of her. He and the other children in his class make posters and Carlitos joins the marchers with a very special sign for his mom! [Publisher’s description.]

ISBN: 9780938317890 | Cinco Puntos Press

Related Resource

Article by Linda Christensen in Rethinking Schools, “Reading and Writing the World.”

Although the book’s intended audience is elementary students, ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! can be used as a model across grade levels. Teachers might use the book as an opening for a variety of lessons — on unions, strikes, solidarity, or local cuts in education budgets. In a recent workshop, I used it to raise the question of who is invisible in our lives. See full article.

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Jorge Argueta was among the first wave of Salvadoran refugees, who fled the U.S.-funded war in their country during the early 1980s. After the war ended, the United States deported immigrants and their children accused of joining gangs. The gang violence, combined with the economic crisis in the region, has led to the current wave of refugees. Argueta collected testimonials from young people who came in this second wave. Then he wrote poems based on their stories about the hardship of leaving family behind and the perils of the journey. Also highly recommended for young children on migration from Central America to the United States is Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote by Duncan Tonatiuh. [Review by Rethinking Schools.]

Why are young people leaving their country to walk to the United States to seek a new, safe home? Over 100,000 such children have left Central America. This book of poetry helps us to understand why and what it is like to be them. This powerful book by award-winning Salvadoran poet Jorge Argueta describes the terrible process that leads young people to undertake the extreme hardships and risks involved in the journey to what they hope will be a new life of safety and opportunity. A refugee from El Salvador’s war in the eighties, Argueta was born to explain the tragic choice confronting young Central Americans today who are saying goodbye to everything they know because they fear for their lives. This book brings home their situation and will help young people who are living in safety to understand those who are not.

Compelling, timely and eloquent, this book is beautifully illustrated by master artist Alfonso Ruano who also illustrated The Composition. [Publisher’s description.]

ISBN: 9781554988495 | Groundwood Books

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Not only did the country rapidly reach an unprecedented 96 percent literacy rate, but also the young teachers were profoundly changed. They developed a new found respect for campesinos, and the traditional roles of women in society changed qualitatively.

The impact of the campaign on the teachers and the students is told through the photos and stories in this  beautiful and inspirational bilingual book. [Description from Rethinking Schools.]

A Year without Sundays: Images from the Literacy Campaign in Cuba / Un Año sin Domingos: La Imagen de la Alfabetizacion en Cuba includes numerous archival photographs from the period, accounts from participants, an introductory essay by the great Cuban poet and literacy campaign participant Nancy Morejón, and a DVD of selected moments from the acclaimed film Maestra by U.S. film maker and co-author Catherine Murphy.

ISBN: 9788461735044 | Ediciones Aurelia and The Literacy Project (available through PM Press)

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Based on actual events and real people, the poems in Surrender Tree outline Rosa’s life: born into slavery; learning about healing plants and flowers; through 30 years of war as a self-appointed nurse; seeking freedom; and fighting death and sickness with her natural potions.

The author uses several voices to convey the longing for freedom, the hope for peace, the fear of detection, and the sorrow and horror of war. These include: Jose Varona, (freed from slavery), marries Rosa and helps her establish (and hide) makeshift hospitals in forests, mountains, and caves; Silvia, a young refugee, escapes the reconcentration camp* and joins Rosa to serve as a nurse and learn the healing cures; and the man known as the Lieutenant of Death, who has grown up hunting people who had escaped from slavery, vows to find and kill Rosa to eliminate the symbol of hope and resistance she has become.

Monument in Cuba to Rosa La Bayamesa.

The alternating perspectives both refine the characters and dramatically move the narrative forward. The verse is clear, concise, and compelling. This is a wonderful book, powerful and simple at the same time.

The author offers a personal connection and a historical note and timeline at the back of the book that helps the reader realize that real people faced these fears and hardships. The book offers an excellent way to introduce and promote discussion of historical events such as Cuba’s fight for independence, the Spanish-American war, and slavery. This is that rare book where the remembrance of it is even more powerful than the reading of it. [Reviewed by Ellen Simmons, The Lorgnette – Heart of Texas Reviews from CLCD].

ISBN: 9780312608712 | Square Fish

*In 1896, General Weyler of Spain implemented the first wave of the Spanish “Reconcentracion Policy” that sent thousands of Cubans into concentration camps. Under Weyler’s policy, the rural population had eight days to move into designated camps located in fortified towns; any person who failed to obey was shot. The housing in these areas was typically abandoned, decaying, roofless, and virtually uninhabitable. Food was scarce and famine and disease quickly swept through the camps. By 1898, one-third of Cuba’s population had been forcibly sent into the concentration camps. More than 400,000 Cubans died as a result of the Spanish Reconcentration Policy. [Description from PBS.]

The post The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom appeared first on Zinn Education Project.

When the trumpet sounded
everything was prepared on earth,
and Jehovah gave the world
to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda,
Ford Motors, and other corporations.
The United Fruit Company
reserved for itself the most juicy
piece, the central coast of my world,
the delicate waist of America.

It rebaptized these countries
Banana Republics,
and over the sleeping dead,
over the unquiet heroes
who won greatness,
liberty, and banners,
it established an opera buffa:
it abolished free will,
gave out imperial crowns,
encouraged envy, attracted
the dictatorship of flies:
Trujillo flies, Tachos flies
Carias flies, Martinez flies,
Ubico flies, flies sticky with
submissive blood and marmalade,
drunken flies that buzz over
the tombs of the people,
circus flies, wise flies
expert at tyranny.

With the bloodthirsty flies
came the Fruit Company,
amassed coffee and fruit
in ships which put to sea like
overloaded trays with the treasures
from our sunken lands.

Meanwhile the Indians fall
into the sugared depths of the
harbors and are buried in the
morning mists;
a corpse rolls, a thing without
name, a discarded number,
a bunch of rotten fruit
thrown on the garbage heap.

Original in Spanish

Cuando sonó la trompeta, estuvo
todo preparado en la tierra,
y Jehova repartió el mundo
a Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda,
Ford Motors, y otras entidades:
la Compañía Frutera Inc.
se reservó lo más jugoso,
la costa central de mi tierra,
la dulce cintura de América.

Bautizó de nuevo sus tierras
como “Repúblicas Bananas,”
y sobre los muertos dormidos,
sobre los héroes inquietos
que conquistaron la grandeza,
la libertad y las banderas,
estableció la ópera bufa:
enajenó los albedríos
regaló coronas de César,
desenvainó la envidia, atrajo
la dictadora de las moscas,
moscas Trujillos, moscas Tachos,
moscas Carías, moscas Martínez,
moscas Ubico, moscas húmedas
de sangre humilde y mermelada,
moscas borrachas que zumban
sobre las tumbas populares,
moscas de circo, sabias moscas
entendidas en tiranía.

Entre las moscas sanguinarias
la Frutera desembarca,
arrasando el café y las frutas,
en sus barcos que deslizaron
como bandejas el tesoro
de nuestras tierras sumergidas.

Mientras tanto, por los abismos
azucarados de los puertos,
caían indios sepultados
en el vapor de la mañana:
un cuerpo rueda, una cosa
sin nombre, un número caído,
un racimo de fruta muerta
derramada en el pudridero.

Written in 1950 as part of the Canto General.

Learn More

From Arbenz to Zelaya: Chiquita in Latin America. (Interview on Democracy Now! on July 21, 2009). When the Honduran military overthrew the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya two weeks ago there might have been a sigh of relief in the corporate board rooms of Chiquita banana,” writes journalist Nikolas Kozloff. “Earlier this year the Cincinnati-based fruit company joined Dole in criticizing the government in Tegucigalpa which had raised the minimum wage by 60%.” Kozloff goes on to trace Chiquita’s “long and sordid” political history in Central America.

The post The United Fruit Company appeared first on Zinn Education Project.

“A witty and devastating portrait of U.S. military policy.” —Howard Zinn

“Political comics at its best. Bitterly amusing, lively and richly informative. For people of all ages who want to understand the link between U.S. militarism, foreign policy, and corporate greed at home and abroad.” —Michael Parenti

“Addicted to War is must reading for all Americans who are concerned with understanding the true nature of U.S. foreign policy and how it affects us here at home.” —Martin Sheen

ISBN: 9781904859024 | AK Press

The post Adicto a la Guerra: Por que el E.E.U.U. no Puede Librarse del Militarismo appeared first on Zinn Education Project.

Click on the image to view selected pages.

This bilingual picture book tells the story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, who organized migrant workers in the 1960s. Brown begins by sketching their upbringings: Huerta, an activist from the start, “raise[d] money for soldiers fighting in World War II,” while Chavez and his family were forced to become migrants themselves. Meeting later, they joined forces to fight for better working conditions—the first of many successes during decades of activism.

Cepeda’s highly textural paintings — using oils, acrylics, and collage — never put the duo on a pedestal, and instead emphasize the power and impact of ordinary but dedicated citizens. [Description from Publishers’ Weekly.]

Bilingual | ISBN 9780061227813 | HarperCollins/Rayo

The post Side by Side/Lado a lado appeared first on Zinn Education Project.

The fact that Pink, who has been enslaved, can read while Say cannot provides a counterexample to the narrative of white people teaching African-Americans to read. Say’s use of late nineteenth century, rural diction (“a powerful long way,” “it were near Washington”) provides a springboard for discussion on dialects and how language becomes “standardized.” Pink and Say can anchor lessons on segregation, the Civil War, military history, and oral/family history.

ISBN: 9781880507308 | Lectorum Publications

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Doreen Cronin’s understated text and Betsy Lewin’s expressive illustrations make the most of this hilarious situation. [Publisher’s description.]

ISBN: 9781930332409 | Lectorum Publications

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ISBN: 9781930332805  | Lectorum

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