Freedom School for Educators: Black History Classes in the Age of Censorship

The 2026–2027 class schedule has just been announced. 

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- It's not every day that educators can learn directly from leading historians, writers, and activists and then immediately process that learning in small groups with peers equally committed to truth and justice. That's exactly what makes the Zinn Education Project's Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online class series so rare and vital.

The 2026–2027 class schedule has just been announced. It opens the school year with a class on the history of high school student organizing, featuring historians Aaron Fountain Jr. and Jon Hale. Other sessions include Howard Bryant on Paul Robeson and Jackie Robinson; Gary Tyler on mass incarceration and the legacy of slavery; Kelly Lytle Hernández on racism and immigration policy; and Jeanne Theoharis on Coretta Scott King.

In an era of book bans, gag orders, and political attacks on justice-centered curricula, spaces for honest, interactive professional learning are shrinking. Teachers and school staff face constant pressure, misinformation, and curricular erasure. The need for meaningful, culturally relevant professional development has never been greater, as nearly half of educators report that their required training is irrelevant to their work. This series offers a response: a collaborative and engaging learning experience unlike typical workshops or webinars.

The Zinn Education Project series reminds participants that history is layered, contested, and constantly rewritten. It emphasizes that social transformation is collective. Now in its sixth year, the series offers monthly 75-minute sessions that combine rich historical conversation with interactive engagement. Each session pairs a teacher interviewer with a historian. Then, participants move into breakout rooms where they meet colleagues from across the country, discuss the content, and share strategies for bringing truth to their classrooms.

Anchored in an emergent people's history tradition, the series has featured speakers such as Clint Smith on slavery's lasting impact on inequality in the United States; Eve Ewing on how the U.S. school system maintains racial hierarchies; Jarvis Givens on Black History Month as an evolving liberatory project; and Jeanne Theoharis on Northern racism and the ongoing misuse of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. Martha Jones highlighted the role of Black women in the long struggle for voting rights. As one participant reflected on the session:

The stories of our female ancestors are powerful and need to be told and taught! Using Vanguard, I can share with my students the background of the struggle for Black women to vote and tie it into what is happening currently all across the country. This history is bigger than us.

These classes are not only about learning people's history. They provide opportunities for educators to connect with peers, find guidance for teaching under authoritarianism, and gain inspiration to continue justice-centered work. As one participant reflected, "So much of our history lies in our hands, and we have to tell our story and carry it forward."

The sessions consistently model inquiry-based, dialogic learning where knowledge grows through discussion and reflection, rather than top-down instruction. "As always, I appreciate the chance to actively process my thinking with other educators," one participant emphasized. Another shared, "Loving the breakout groups more and more each time."

Participants from every U.S. state and territory describe the series as rigorous and sustaining. One attendee said the experience "reinvigorates me to keep learning as much as possible to teach kids Black history, despite the major gaps in my knowledge." Another added: "This will definitely help my future teaching by being more open and honest with students. Not sugarcoating what has happened actually informs them more."

If educators are to teach U.S. history accurately, they need access to the current scholarship. These sessions provide exactly that: cutting-edge research in people's history that uncovers forgotten or previously unrecognized stories of real people — stories that traditional narratives have left out or intentionally erased.

"These spaces are not only about learning," one attendee wrote. "They are about organizing, connecting, and freedom dreaming."

SOURCE Zinn Education Project