The Politics of Civil Rights

Posted by Julia Rappaport on November 15, 2014

Next week marks the 51st anniversary of the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy. We can explore his legacy by examining the Kennedy administration's responses to the civil rights movement, and how these responses changed over time.

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Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Books, Film, Democracy, Facing History Resources, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Resources, Civil Rights, History

Why "To Kill a Mockingbird" Still Resonates Today

Posted by Margot Stern Strom on November 12, 2014

To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a small town in Alabama in the 1930s, a town much like the one in which author Harper Lee came of age. Although I grew up a generation later, I see much of myself in Scout, the young white girl who narrates the book.

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Topics: To Kill a Mockingbird, Classrooms, Books, English Language Arts, Margot Stern Strom, Human Rights, Facing History Resources, Teaching, Identity, Teaching Resources, Teachers, History

Where Did the Word "Genocide" Come From?

Posted by Julia Rappaport on November 3, 2014

Untitled design (36)Seventy years ago this fall, the word "genocide" made its debut into the English language, on page 79 of the 674-page Axis Rule in Occupied Europe [which you can find here in Reading 3], in a chapter called "Genocide—A New Term and New Conception for Destruction of Nations."

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Topics: Books, Choosing to Participate, Armenian Genocide, Human Rights, Facing History Resources, Teaching, Upstanders, Genocide/Collective Violence, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Resources, Video, History

Creating Safe Classrooms: Resources for UK National Anti-Bullying Week

Posted by Julia Rappaport on October 27, 2014

National Anti-Bullying Week takes place in the United Kingdom 17th to 21st of November. This year's theme is "let's stop bullying for all."

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Topics: Classrooms, United Kingdom, Webinar, Online Tools, Professional Development, Film, Teaching Strategies, Bullying and Ostracism, Choosing to Participate, Human Behavior, Human Rights, Facing History Resources, Safe Schools, Teaching, Schools, Identity, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Resources

Give Bigotry No Sanction

Posted by Adam Strom on October 24, 2014

The recent row over Bill Maher and Ben Affleck's heated discussion of Islam on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher strikes me as an opportunity for a civic lesson–one rooted not in debating who is right or wrong, or who is bigoted or not, but one, that, in true Facing History and Ourselves fashion, is rooted in history. At Facing History, we have learned that history often provides a needed distance from which we can illuminate the present and inform more productive civic dialogue.

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Topics: Antisemitism, Choosing to Participate, Human Behavior, Human Rights, Facing History Resources, Religious Tolerance, News, Readings, Identity, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Resources, History

40 Years Later: The Legacy of Boston Busing

Posted by Jocelyn Stanton on October 15, 2014

What does it mean to face history in your own community? And how do you teach a history in a community where its legacies are still unfolding?

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Topics: Classrooms, Teaching Strategies, Events, Facing History Resources, Safe Schools, Teaching, Schools, Identity, Facing History Together, Race and Membership, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Resources, Teachers, Civil Rights, History

8 Memoirs That Matter

Posted by Tracy O'Brien on October 7, 2014

Stories matter. The stories we tell have the power to effect history. By sharing stories with students, we help them to see themselves as part of the human story, as individuals who can change the narrative by making positive choices and contributing to their communities and the world.

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Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Books, English Language Arts, Choosing to Participate, Facing History Resources, Immigration, Identity, Holocaust, Memoir, History, Reading, Reading List

Using Art, Literature, and Poetry to Study Untold Stories from History

Posted by Karen Scher on September 30, 2014

Forty-one years ago this month, a violent military coup in Chile led by Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende's democratically-elected government.

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Topics: Classrooms, Art, English Language Arts, Teaching Strategies, Democracy, Memory, Choosing to Participate, Human Rights, Facing History Resources, New York, Teaching, Identity, Holocaust, Genocide/Collective Violence, Teaching Resources, History

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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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