Facing History & Ourselves

Are you an educational leader looking for a space to work through current challenges and connect with your peers? The next installment of our Building Belonging online conversation space is coming up on March 26! This month's professional learning session is titled "Leading for Multilingual Communities" and will feature Maria Cecilia Vila Chave, Supervisor of ESL/Bilingual and Social Studies at the Township of Ocean Schools District, NJ. Click through to learn more and sign up today.

Facing History is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the Chilean-American poet, scholar, and human rights advocate Marjorie Agosin—a close organizational friend, collaborator, and member of our Board of Scholars. A tireless activist and brilliant mind, Marjorie was a longtime professor at Wellesley College and received countless accolades including the Peabody Award, the Belpré Medal, and the Gabriela Mistral Medal of Honor for Life Achievement from the Chilean government. We are immensely grateful for all she brought to our work, and for her own artistic and scholarly contributions to the world. We urge you to watch this fascinating and powerful video of Marjorie discussing how women responded artistically to the Pinochet dictatorship. As she wrote in her poem "Marta Alvarado, History Professor": "true/history was made by women/the girl-women/and the old women." https://lnkd.in/gdDBTTms

On this day in 1966, the Texas Western Miners became the first college basketball team with an all-Black starting five to win the Division I National Championship. With their 72-65 defeat of the Kentucky Wildcats (an all-white program until 1969), the Miners broke barriers and changed college sports forever—the entire team would eventually be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Click through to learn more about this historic day from the NCAA.

What are the benefits and challenges for students when labelling their identities and experiences within and outside their Jewish communities? Join us tomorrow, March 18, for an interactive virtual workshop designed for educators in Jewish settings. We’ll share a new lesson that highlights the historical and contemporary experiences of Jews of Color, Sephardic Jews, and Mizrahi Jews while also considering the impact of exclusion, antisemitism, and racism on people who share these identities.

Educators play a critical role in helping young people understand lessons from history to navigate our world today. Join us July 23-24 for an interactive online Civics Education Workshop designed for educators teaching grades 6-12. Attendees will explore the interdisciplinary nature of civic learning and discover how our approach to civic education helps cultivate young peoples’ sense of informed civic responsibility.

In a time of rising antisemitism, it's important to elevate authentic stories of joy, diversity, and cultural texture from within the Jewish community. This free March 20 webinar will work to counter harmful stereotypes by learning about the multiplicity of Jewish identity and the vibrancy of contemporary Jewish life. Click through to register now!

With eroding trust in civic institutions and rising incidents of bigotry and hatred, it’s essential to reflect on what strengthens democracy and the importance of continually pursuing democratic ideals. This collection explores a wide range of themes related to democracy with a focus on citizen power and civic participation, the rule of law, the role of a free press, and more.

Recent elections in the United States have made the country’s deep divisions abundantly clear while raising questions about the strength and fragility of our democracy itself. This mini-lesson helps students assess the health of our political system and asks them to consider how young people can contribute to strengthening it over time.

While the right to vote is federally protected, laws in some states have made it disproportionately difficult for people of color and low-income voters to participate in the democratic process regardless of eligibility. During this on-demand webinar featuring Dr. Carol Anderson, we examine the history of suffrage in the US and how political access has been both restricted and obtained.

Talking about the political atmosphere in the United States can be challenging—but young people are too smart to ignore the effects of polarization on the world around them. To help students understand political polarization, reflect on its consequences, and imagine solutions, we’ve created a set of 20-minute activities that can be taught together or separately.