Resources for the Introduction

Additional Resources for Teaching in an Inquiry-Based History Classroom

Why Don’t You just Tell Us the Answer: Teaching Historical Thinking in Grades 7-12  by Bruce Lesh (2011). find on Amazon

Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History, 2nd ed. by James W. Loewen (2018). find on Amazon

She Would Not Be Moved: How We Tell the Story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Herbert Kohl (2007). find on Amazon

Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom by Matthew R. Kay (2018). find on Amazon

Prompting Deeper Discussions: A Teacher’s Guide to Crafting Great Questions by Matthew R. Kay (2024). find on Amazon

Essential Classroom Resources

Although each chapter includes specific resources tailored to its content, the following books, documentaries, and websites provide invaluable primary sources, visual materials, and context that support the inquiry-based approach throughout this book.

Documentaries/Video

Primary Source Databases

Museums & Collections

Teaching Resources

Reference Books for Students

  • The African American Odyssey (Library of Congress reference)
  • Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Kwame Anthony Appiah
  • Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry into the Civil War and Reconstruction by the American Social History Project
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (young adult adaptation)
  • March (graphic novel trilogy) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
  • The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (primary source autobiography)
  • A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff