5 Questions for Pulitzer-Winner Sonia Nazario

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on October 2, 2015

On November 5, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sonia Nazario will join Facing History in Cleveland, Ohio, for a Community Conversation—one in a series of public talks held across the country in partnership with The Allstate Foundation. You can RSVP here today. Ahead of the talk, we sat down with the author of the bestseller Enrique's Journey to discuss immigration, reporting during times of conflict, and the power young people have to shape our world for the better.

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Topics: Books, Events, Immigration, Facing History Together, Sonia Nazario, Community Conversations

Echoes of the Past: The Current Refugee Crisis in Europe

Posted by Facing History on September 8, 2015

What is our responsibility to refugees fleeing from war and genocide?

On September 3, the BBC's Inside Europe Blog published images of police officers in the Czech Republic writing on the hands of detained migrants as a way to identify them. In the post, reporter Rob Cameron observed that the images “are an uncomfortable reminder of a different event and a different era. But the Czech authorities appeared totally unaware of the unfortunate visual connotations with the Holocaust, when prisoners at Auschwitz were systematically tattooed with serial numbers.”

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Topics: Rescue, Immigration, News, History, Universe of Obligation, Europe, Refugees, Refugee Crisis

Responding to a Community in Crisis

Posted by Karen Murphy on May 6, 2015

Over the last few weeks, South Africa has been rocked by xenophobic violence.

According to The New York Times, approximately five million immigrants have settled in South Africa since the end of the apartheid in 1994. Many are refugees, or are pursuing economic opportunities in the country, which has become a relatively stable multiracial democracy. Many native South Africans are greeting these newcomers with prejudice, hatred, and violence—destroying local businesses and in some cases committing murder. Today, South Africa’s immigrant population lives in fear.

Unfortunately, the trend is not new. In 2007, a year before xenophobic attacks would break out nationwide, violence erupted in the small township of Zwelethemba, about two hours from Cape Town.


A Facing History teacher at the local high school recognized that his community was in crisis. 

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Topics: Choosing to Participate, Human Rights, Immigration, Safe Schools, Teaching, Schools, Video, South Africa, Margot Stern Strom Innovation Grants

5 Questions for Pulitzer-Winner Sonia Nazario

Posted by Julia Rappaport on May 5, 2015

On May 12, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sonia Nazario will join Facing History in Berkeley, California for a Community Conversation—one in a series of public talks held across the country in partnership with The Allstate Foundation.

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Topics: Webinar, Books, Events, Immigration, Facing History Together

Talking About Paris: Citizenship in the Face of Division, Fear, and Hatred

Posted by Karen Murphy on January 12, 2015

Teaching after mass violence, including acts of terrorism, is incredibly challenging.

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Topics: Antisemitism, Democracy, Choosing to Participate, Human Rights, Immigration, Religious Tolerance, Teaching, Schools, News, Identity, Genocide/Collective Violence

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

Banned Books Week: Celebrate the Freedom to Read with Graphic Novels

Posted by Julia Rappaport on September 24, 2014

September 21-27 is Banned Books Week in the United States, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and to express our own views, and share the views of others.

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Topics: Classrooms, Civil Rights Movement, Books, English Language Arts, Choosing to Participate, Immigration, Identity, Common Core, Holocaust

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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