Units
PLEASE NOTE: The Darfur Now unit will be available shortly. Subscribe to our website updates to find out when it's available.
Becoming American: A Series of Three LessonsBill Moyer's film, Becoming American: The Chinese Experience, describes the ways the first arrivals from China in the 1840s, their descendants, and recent immigrants have "become American." It is a story about identity and belonging that will resonate with all Americans. | |
Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the ArmeniansThis series of lessons is organized as a mini-unit for teaching the Armenian Genocide. They were designed to complement Facing History and Ourselves' resource books, Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior and Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians. | |
Emmett Till: A Series of Four LessonsThis unit is a series of four complementary activities that accompany the documentary film, The Murder of Emmett Till. They provide a vehicle for discussing this powerful film while also establishing important historical context to better understand its place within American history and for our understanding of the fragility of democracy. | |
Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985Individuals, groups and nations have responded to injustice throughout history. The purpose of this series of lessons is to look at one particular approach to responding to injustice: the strategy of nonviolence. | |
Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust
The film Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust tells
the story of a Jewish father who tries to alert his adult sons to the
dangers posed by defenders of the faith who preach intolerance of the
"other" and who feel compelled to create impenetrable barriers between
"us" and "them. | |
I Promised I Would Tell UnitFacing History and Ourselves has released a collection of classroom activities to accompany Sonia Weitz's highly successful Holocaust memoir, I Promised I Would Tell. This series of 12 lessons, all of which focus on literacy, have been tested in both middle and high school classrooms across the Memphis region. | |
Literature Circles: Discussing Historical Fiction in Student-Centered Groups
What are Literature Circles?
Literature Circles are commonly defined as informal student-centered book discussion groups characterized by heterogeneous grouping, student-selected texts and an emphasis on self-evaluation. | |
Nuremberg Remembered Documentary: A Series of Three LessonsThe Nuremberg trials, held from 1945 to 1949, were a galvanizing moment in history, international law, and human rights. This documentary about the trials combines archival footage and modern-day interviews with trial participants who served in a variety of roles, including members of the legal team for the prosecution and a journalist reporting on the events for the press. | |
Totally Unofficial: Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention: A Series of Three LessonsRaphael Lemkin devoted much of his life to a single goal: making the world understand and recognize a crime so horrific that there was not even a word for it. By coining the word "genocide" and drafting the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Lemkin's actions have influenced the way we are able to respond to acts of genocide. | |
Why is Civil Society Important?: The Arpilleristas in Pinochet's ChileIn a democracy citizens have rights, such as the freedoms of expression and of association. Often these rights are written in a constitution or other public document. When people freely exercise these rights, for example, by meeting to advocate for their interests, by volunteering to forward a valued cause, or by protesting a government policy, they do so as part of civil society. |
