A curated library of books, lesson plans, and organizations for teachers who believe that peace is not a subject — it is the foundation of all learning.
These resources carry the legacy of the Flower Children who became teachers — and the scholars, veterans, and activists who gave us the language to name what we see.
From a two-time Medal of Honor recipient to the world's most-cited education theorist — these books give teachers the intellectual foundation to teach truth.
Howard Zinn
The definitive counter-narrative to the textbook version of American history. Zinn tells history from the perspective of workers, women, Indigenous peoples, and the poor — the people who built the country but rarely appear in its official story. Essential for any classroom that takes truth seriously.
Major General Smedley Butler
Written by the most decorated Marine in U.S. history, this 66-page pamphlet is the most powerful anti-war text ever written by a soldier. Butler names the corporations that profited from World War I, names the industries, names the numbers. Every high school student in America should read this.
James W. Loewen
Loewen analyzed twelve leading high school history textbooks and found systematic omissions, distortions, and hero worship. He reveals what textbooks leave out about Columbus, the Civil War, Vietnam, and the present — and why. A masterclass in critical thinking for teachers and students alike.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The full text of King's April 4, 1967 speech at Riverside Church — exactly one year before his assassination. King names the "triple evils" of racism, poverty, and militarism as inseparable. He calls America "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." The speech that cost him his mainstream support — and revealed his deepest moral clarity.
Lillian Weber
The foundational text of the Open Classroom Movement — the educational revolution launched by Flower Children who became teachers. Weber describes a classroom built on trust, curiosity, and the child's natural drive to learn. A direct challenge to the Educare model of control and compliance.
Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner
Written at the height of the Flower Children era, this book argues that the purpose of education is to produce critical thinkers who can question authority, detect propaganda, and resist manipulation. Postman and Weingartner were the first to name the "crap detector" as the most essential skill a teacher can cultivate.
Paulo Freire
The most widely cited education text in the world. Freire names the "banking model" of education — where students are empty vessels to be filled with approved knowledge — and proposes instead a dialogical, liberatory pedagogy. The intellectual foundation of every teacher who has ever felt that something was deeply wrong with the system.
Ann Wiggins Brown
First-person accounts from the children of migrant farm workers — the most invisible population in American schools. A reminder that peace begins in the classroom, in the way we see and treat every child who walks through the door.
These are starting points, not scripts. Adapt them to your students, your community, and your truth.
Students draw numbers from a lottery to simulate the 1969 Vietnam draft lottery. Those with low numbers are "drafted." Discussion follows: Who was exempt? Why? What did it feel like? Connect to current economic and military recruitment patterns.
Students research defense contractor stock prices during major U.S. military engagements (Gulf War, Iraq War, Afghanistan). They create visual timelines showing stock price increases alongside casualty counts. Culminates in a class discussion: Who profits? Who pays?
Students interview adults who lived through the 1960s–70s about their memories of the peace movement. They record, transcribe, and present the interviews. Connects to the TeacherWorld Flower Children Stories archive.
Students read excerpts from War Is a Racket alongside their standard textbook's account of the same wars. They identify what the textbook includes, what it omits, and why. Develops critical reading and source analysis skills.
Students map King's "triple evils" (racism, poverty, militarism) onto current events. They find contemporary examples of each evil and present their findings. Culminates in a class discussion: Has anything changed?
Students design a one-week peace curriculum for a younger grade level. They must include at least one primary source, one creative activity, and one community connection. Presented to the class and submitted to the TeacherWorld community forum.
These organizations have been doing this work for decades. Most of their resources are free.
Founded 1967 by veterans who came home and joined the peace movement. Their oral histories and archives are invaluable primary sources.
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Free lesson plans, primary sources, and teaching guides based on Howard Zinn's People's History. Hundreds of classroom-ready resources.
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Free classroom resources for anti-bias education, social justice, and civil rights history. Published by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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The official repository of Dr. King's papers, speeches, and legacy. Full text of Beyond Vietnam and other key speeches available free.
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Curriculum resources connecting historical atrocities to contemporary issues of identity, prejudice, and moral decision-making.
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Primary source documents, photographs, and oral histories from the Vietnam War era. Free for classroom use.
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In the late 1960s and early 1970s, thousands of Flower Children who became teachers launched the Open Classroom Movement — a radical reimagining of education based on trust, curiosity, and the child's natural drive to learn.
They fought for the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975), which became IDEA. They brought the arts back into schools. They created multicultural curricula before the term existed. They were the first generation to name the school-to-prison pipeline.
They planted seeds that are still growing.