Teaching the History of Human Rights

Posted by Kaitlin Smith on December 2, 2021

"Where, after all, do human rights begin? In small places close to home-so close and
so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world." Eleanor Roosevelt

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Topics: Human Rights, Universe of Obligation

Earth Day in the Time of COVID-19

Posted by Kaitlin Smith on April 22, 2020

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day—a date used to commemorate the birth of the modern environmental movement in the United States and around the world. This occasion offers an opportunity to evaluate our progress since the founding of Earth Day, as well as where our thinking and action must be re-energized. Though the modern environmental movement has achieved great gains over the last fifty years, an array of profound challenges remain. And the coronavirus pandemic is bringing some of those longstanding challenges—and how they impact people differently—into sharper focus.

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Topics: Race and Membership, Universe of Obligation

Remembering Stonewall on the 50th Anniversary

Posted by Kaitlin Smith on June 26, 2019


Widely considered the event that inaugurated the modern gay rights movement, this Friday, June 28th marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Stonewall was the culmination of a number of efforts that had been bubbling just beyond public perception for decades and finally burst into view when a group of LGBTQ people facing ongoing police brutality and economic exploitation fought back at New York City’s Stonewall Inn.

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Topics: Memorials, New York, Universe of Obligation, Racism, LGBTQ

Acclaimed Educator Frank Stebbins on Facing History and Human Rights Education

Posted by Kaitlin Smith on June 7, 2019

From left to right: Freeholder Alexander Mirabella, Frank Stebbins, and Dr. Hank Kaplowitz.

In a recent interview, I spoke with acclaimed educator Frank Stebbins about his path to teaching, unique approaches in the classroom, and how Facing History has been instrumental in his development as an educator. Stebbins was recently named the 2019 Hank Kaplowitz Outstanding Human Rights Educator of the Year by the Human Rights Institute at Kean University.

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Topics: Identity, Teachers, Universe of Obligation, Holocaust Education, Social-Emotional Learning, Holocaust and Human Behaviour, facing history pedagogy

3 Ways to Address the Latest News on Immigration With Your Students

Posted by Laura Tavares on January 30, 2017

This week, President Donald Trump announced several measures to limit immigration to the United States. His administration shared plans to build a wall on the Mexican border and to more aggressively deport undocumented immigrants. He also announced an order barring Syrians and other refugees from entering the country and suspended immigration from seven primarily Muslim nations.

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Topics: Immigration, Universe of Obligation, Refugees, In the news

The Compassion Cap

Posted by Stephanie Carrillo on January 3, 2017

Right around the time the Syrian refugee crisis was at the height of its media coverage in the US, I noticed a familiar kind of backlash on my newsfeed. Amidst the photos showing desperate throngs of people escaping with only their lives, between the articles imploring me to donate or explaining how I could help Syrian refugees, I saw another kind of plea: "Don't let them in."

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Topics: Universe of Obligation, Empathy, Refugees, Refugee Crisis

Peeling Away Cultural Cataracts to Reveal Humanity’s Beauty

Posted by Alhassan Susso on October 12, 2016

An immigrant from West Africa, Alhassan Susso came from a long lineage of storytellers known as griots. He recently published his first memoir, The Light of Darkness - The Story of the Griots' Son, which traces his journey to America as a nearly blind teenager and the balance of becoming American while maintaining his deep African roots. On Facing Today, he shares how his own cultural perceptions - and the perceptions others had of him - helped him create a classroom of compassion, understanding, and tolerance as an American History Teacher.

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Topics: Immigration, Teaching, Race and Membership, Universe of Obligation

Discovering What it Means to be a Global Citizen

Posted by Stacey Perlman on August 23, 2016

                                  

Audrey Reyes and David Gómez are busy taking on the world before they even enter college. The two Facing History students were part of a select group of youth scholars from around the world nominated to participate in the Global Citizens Youth Summit (GCYS), hosted by the Global Citizens Initiative (GCI), a nonprofit social enterprise based in Connecticut. They joined 26 other students from 19 different countries in Cambridge, Massachusetts to learn from each other and explore what it means to be a global citizen.

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Topics: Students, Universe of Obligation, Holocaust and Human Behaviour

Seeing Today’s World Through the Lens of Reconstruction

Posted by Jennifer Forshey on June 27, 2016

As a teacher, I talk to my students about expectations a lot. My expectations for them and their expectations for themselves. I tell them it is my professional responsibility and mission to raise their expectations. I want them to think deeper and more creatively. I want them to understand and not memorize. I want them to realize the human impact of history and their role in our collective tomorrow.

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Topics: Reconstruction, Universe of Obligation

"She saw a world of neighbours..." A Remembrance of Labour MP Jo Cox

Posted by Michael McIntyre on June 21, 2016

Michael is a Senior Programme Coordinator for Facing History and Ourselves in London, UK.

A white rose was today placed on a vacant seat in the House of Commons. Members of Parliament (MPs) had returned to pay tribute to Jo Cox, murdered last Thursday in her constituency of Batley and Spen, West Yorkshire. The white rose, a symbol of Yorkshire, was soon joined by a red rose, a symbol of the Labour Party she represented.

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Topics: United Kingdom, Universe of Obligation, global terrorism

At Facing History and Ourselves, we value conversation—in classrooms, in our professional development for educators, and online. When you comment on Facing Today, you're engaging with our worldwide community of learners, so please take care that your contributions are constructive, civil, and advance the conversation.

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Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. Facing History and Ourselves combats racism and antisemitism by using history to teach tolerance in classrooms around the globe.

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