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Chicago

Since 1990, the Chicago office has served more than 8,633 local educators with programs and resources reaching 622,800 middle and high school students.

 

Download the Chicago Factsheet

Follow us @FacingCHI

Our training enables students to deepen their knowledge of history, their understanding of the origins of hatred and violence, and their ability to relate history to their own lives. Our collection of resources helps educators address sensitive topics, like the 2016 election, in the classroom. A strong alliance with Chicago Public Schools and growing partnerships with suburban, religious, and charter schools enables us to have critical and significant impact. 

Provide students with a structured space to grapple with their thoughts and feelings in response to the Chicago police shooting of Laquan McDonald and the trial of Officer Van Dyke.

Learn About Our CPS Partnership

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) invited us to develop history and civics units along with complimentary professional development, especially for CPS educators.

See Which Schools We’re In

These schools range from in-depth Chicago Alliance Schools to single teachers incorporating Facing History content into their curriculum, units, or courses. 

Chicago Public Schools educators and administrators discuss how Facing History professional development has helped prepare them to address important topic with their students.

Upcoming Chicago Events

Professional Development

2019

January

  • 23
    Teaching To Kill a Mockingbird
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $220.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    A New Approach to Teaching To Kill a Mockingbird

    This workshop introduces educators to Teaching Mockingbird, which incorporates civic education, ethical reflection, and historical context into a literary exploration of Harper Lee's beloved novel.

    1.23.19 - 1.24.19
    8:30 am - 3:30 pm
    Facing History and Ourselves
    2 N LaSalle
    2nd Floor Conference Center
    Chicago, IL 60602

  • 29
    Teaching Current Events
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $0.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    Navigating Critical Conversations: Teaching with Current Events

    This workshop will focus on Facing History’s approach to bringing current events into the classroom.

    1.29.19
    4:30 pm - 7:00 pm
    Facing History and Ourselves
    2 N LaSalle
    2nd Floor Conference Center
    Chicago, IL 60602

February

  • 6
    Teaching Holocaust Literature
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $220.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    Teaching the Holocaust Through Literature in Middle and High School

    We will examine ways to integrate primary source documents with different Holocaust memoirs appropriate for both middle and high school as we dig into fundamental questions of human behavior.

     

    2.6.19 - 2.7.19
    8:30 am - 3:30 pm
    Facing History and Ourselves
    2 N LaSalle
    2nd Floor Conference Center
    Chicago, IL 60602

  • 27
    Warriors Don’t Cry for ELA Teachers
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $0.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    Witnesses to History: Using Warriors Don’t Cry to Engage Students' Minds and Hearts

    This workshop explores Facing History’s interdisciplinary approach to using Warriors Don’t Cry to help students deepen their understanding of our Choices in Little Rock unit.

     

    2.27.19
    4:30 pm - 7:00 pm
    Facing History and Ourselves
    2 N LaSalle
    2nd Floor Conference Center
    Chicago, IL 60602

  • 28
    Legacies: Purchased Lives
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $0.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    Legacies: Purchased Lives

    Using Illinois Holocaust Museum’s special exhibition “Purchased Lives,” we will  investigate the origins of concepts of race, and how assumptions led to justification for inhumane treatment and enslavement of others.Comprehending the impact of enslaving people is both challenging and crucial in understanding America’s history.  In this workshop, through resources and teaching strategies, Facing History will support educators (and their students) in exploring this difficult history and its legacies today.
    2.28.19
    9:00 am - 2:30 pm
    Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
    9603 Woods Drive
    SKOKIE, IL 60077

March

  • 6
    Teaching Schindler's List
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $0.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    Using Film to Explore the Holocaust: Teaching Schindler's List

    Schindler’s List tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a war profiteer and member of the Nazi party who saved over 1,100 Jews during World War II. The movie explores the human capacity for monumental evil as well as for extraordinary courage, caring, and compassion. It turns history into an opportunity for moral reflection.

    3.6.19
    4:30 pm - 7:00 pm
    Facing History and Ourselves
    2 N LaSalle
    2nd Floor Conference Center
    Chicago, IL 60602

  • 13
    Chicago: The House We Live In
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $110.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    Chicago: The House We Live In - Memories and Legacies of the 20th Century

    Join us for a one-day workshop that will navigate the “us” and “them” dynamics related to race in Chicago’s rich history and help us connect to broader historical themes which shed light on contemporary challenges.

    3.13.19
    8:30 am - 3:30 pm
    Facing History and Ourselves
    2 N LaSalle
    2nd Floor Conference Center
    Chicago, IL 60602

  • 14
    History and Immigration
    Workshop
    Illinois
    $110.00

    Find details on how to register or pay for Facing History professional development, payment options, help with costs, refunds, and the Facing History Educator Network.

    History and Immigration: Identity, Citizenship and Belonging in a Changing World

    What does it mean to be an American? How does a society integrate immigrants and how do immigrants transform societies? We will explore these questions through history and the contemporary realities of immigration in the United States.

    3.14.19
    8:30 am - 3:30 pm
    Facing History and Ourselves
    2 N LaSalle
    2nd Floor Conference Center
    Chicago, IL 60602

  • 20
    A Complicated Legacy: Genocide and Mass Violence
    Workshop
    Illinois

     

    To register click here.

     

    A Complicated Legacy: Genocide and Mass Violence

    In the wake of mass violence, how might we better understand choices made by individuals and groups that led to atrocities? How do communities work to achieve both healing and justice? 

     

    Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
    9603 Woods Drive
    Skokie, IL 60077
    3.20.19 - 3.21.19
    9:00 am - 2:30 pm

Community Events

2019

January

  • 31
    Dehumanization at the Border
    Community Event
    Illinois

    Facing History Now Community Conversation: Dehumanization at the Border

    Join us as we unpack the ongoing human rights issues migrants face in the United States, and throughout the world. 
    Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center
    Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
    400 S State St
    Chicago, IL 60605
    1.31.19
    6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

April

  • 11
    2019 Chicago Benefit Lunch
    Benefit
    Illinois

    2019 Chicago Benefit Lunch

    This is the moment. Young people have always been -  and are today - at the forefront of social movements that have transformed societies around the world. Facing History and Ourselves gives young people, through our work with educators and in schools, the tools they need to be agents for change.

    Save the date of Thursday, April 11, 2019 for our Chicago Benefit Lunch celebrating the power of youth agency, voice, and civic engagement. Together we can help the next generation face history NOW.

    Hilton Chicago
    720 South Michigan Ave
    60605 Chicago
    4.11.19
    12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

See the Complete Facing History Calendar

Videos to Inspire You

Get to know our work through stories told by teachers, students, scholars, and partnering organizations.

Educators Value Facing History Professional Development

Chicago Public Schools educators and administrators discuss how Facing History professional development has helped prepare them to address important topics with their students.
CPS Educators on Facing History and Student Connections

Chicago Public School Teacher, Marilen Corres, describes how the unique resources and voices from history in her Facing History classrooms gives voice to the voiceless.
Making History Personal

Facing History teacher Alayna Washington, describes how Facing History provides her students the tools they need to connect history to contemporary issues they are facing today.

Pages

Facing History, Chicago Advisory Board

John Brooklier, Chair*

Eric Adelstein
Aaron Bianco
Gene Bindler
Ellen B. Carmell*
Steve Cohen
Linda Burns Coleman
Nick Colvin
Theresa Cothern
Lilly Farahnakian
Kristyn Friske
Jill Garling*
Karen G. Harrison*
Amy Kaplan
Kevin Keefe
Christopher D. Lueking
Richard Melcher**
Peter J. Miller
Linda K. Miner
Jo Ann Nathan
Stuart Nathan
Joanne Nemerovski
Bonnie Oberman
Kathy Richland Pick**
Michael Pucker**
Peggy Salamon
Carole Segal
Gordon Segal
Stacy Sharpe*
Monica Swope
Trish Tullman
Dr. Manika Turnbull
Tom Wippman
Judy Wise*

*Board of Directors
**Leadership Council

Contact Us

2 North LaSalle Street
Suite 2300
Chicago, IL 60602

312-726-4500

[email protected]

Search Our Collection

Everything you need to get started teaching your students about racism, antisemitism and prejudice.