People's History Curriculum Group
The DC Area Educators for Social Justice Middle and High School People’s History Curriculum Working Group coordinates D.C. area middle and high school teachers who are committed to teaching with a people's history lens.
In November and December of 2020, the group collectively wrote the following statement of purpose:
Create places of teaching and dialogue for the purpose of exposing the roots of oppression in order to transcend and abolish them
Challenge the stories and celebrations that are told in society to create a more just and humanizing education system, with liberatory curriculum design, for our community
Empower students to realize and utilize the power they already possess
Engage in revolutionary, abolitionist praxis in schools
Foster brave and restorative spaces for collective organization and communal care
As of the 2025 - 2026 school year, all DCAESJ working groups meet quarterly, collectively engaging in themes of social justice education (visiting local history sites, developing lessons, and more). Breakouts by grade level allow deeper discussion and praxis alignment among peers.
Fill out the application if you are interested in joining the group.
Background and Sessions
For the founding year and a half, DCPS middle school teacher Caneisha Mills was the teacher co-coordinator. In addition, Mills had a lesson published at the Zinn Education Project website and in Rethinking Schools. The lesson, which she had shared with the group for feedback as she was writing it, is Who’s to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The first meeting of the people’s history curriculum working group was held on October 5, 2019, with a presentation by high school teacher and Rethinking Schools editor Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Wolfe-Rocca led the group in a 45-minute climate justice lesson and described five approaches to writing curriculum. The group then met in sub-groups: one on teaching about climate justice and the other on teaching about challenging myths about U.S. Presidents. Each participant received a copy of the Rethinking Schools book, A People’s Curriculum for the Earth.
In 2021 the group was selected as one of the Zinn Education Project Teaching for Black Lives Study Groups. As a result, participants (after two meetings) receive a copy of the book Teaching for Black Lives, a subscription to the Rethinking Schools magazine, and invitations to special events for study group members from across the United States.
A number of subsequent sessions are described below, starting with the most recent session and working back.
On December 13th, the DCAESJ working groups came together at the Teaching for Change office for our final convening of the 2025 calendar year. The theme for the session, American Exceptionalism was aligned with our preparations for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in 2026.
Despite the current federal attacks on D.C. community members, educators came together to learn, laugh, and connect. On September 27th, the DC Area Educators for Social Justice (DCAESJ) Working Groupsheld their first convening of the 25-26 school year at the D.C. History Center.
Saturday, April 5, 2025, the D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice (DCAESJ) working group educators came together for a Spring Convening centered on advocacy.
Elementary and Secondary Working Group Meeting
Twelve teachers from the DCAESJ elementary and secondary working groups gathered at the Teaching for Change office for a workshop on race, identity, and stereotypes in art, led by Diamond Gray of the American Visionary Art Museum.
DCAESJ Working Group Meeting
The May working group meeting was held at the Teaching for Change office, and it was a reflective time for educators across all three groups to connect over a collaborative art project.
Elementary and Secondary Working Group Meeting
The April elementary and secondary working group meeting centered on a problem of practice that was raised by a working group member: how to find strategies for teaching about Black history that recognize both resistance and joy. Additionally, how to find ways to involve caregivers in that learning.
Elementary and Secondary Working Group Meeting
All three working groups met at the Phillips Collection for the March meeting. They kicked it off with group trivia, composed by the education team at the museum.
In lieu of a formal meeting during the month of March, all working group members were encouraged to attend and/or participate in annual events from a few of our partner organizations.
A Week of Action. A Year of Purpose. A Lifetime Commitment. And all of this can start with just a few hours of planning. On Saturday, January 7th, all DCAESJ working groups joined together and invited fellow D.C. area educators to share advice, build on resources, begin planning their BLM at School Week of Action, and continue to participate in the Year of Purpose.
The three D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice working groups convened a joint meeting to prepare to teach about Central America this school year, especially during the October 3–9 Teach Central America Week. Educators began with a trip to the National Museum of the American Latino’s first exhibit, ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States.
The middle/high school People’s History working group came together for their May meeting on Saturday, May 14, 2022. Alison Rice led the group in an activity reflecting on the words of James Baldwin in A Talk To Teachers.
By Bridget Fuller
On February 12, the DCAESJ People’s History Secondary Working Group met to connect as a community of educators, discuss a people’s history lesson about transportation protests, and continue their Teaching for Black Lives book study.
