Ideas This Week
Ideas This Week is your hub for updates on all things Facing History—from announcements and featured press to expert interviews, impact stories, and essays on the ideas driving our work.
Using Poetry to Teach US History
Poetry can connect students to the emotions and decisions of experiences of people throughout US history.
![Examining Passengers Aboard Ships, Vessel Is The Shimyo Maru, Angel Island, California](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-05/00482-2011-001-ac.jpg?h=53deb655&itok=Raq0eT62)
Interview with Rwandan Genocide Survivor Jacqueline Murekatete
Jacqueline Murekatete details her unlikely survival during the Rwandan genocide, and why sharing survivor testimony is critical to genocide prevention.
![Jacqueline Murekatete speaking into a microphone](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-04/JM4.jpg?h=76931a7c&itok=eh4h25ma)
King: A Life—A Conversation with Jonathan Eig and Adam Green
The life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. is explored in discussion with the author of the bestselling biography King: A Life and scholar Adam Green.
![Martin Luther King, Jr., half-length portrait, facing left, speaking at microphones](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-01/3c11165u.jpg?h=948fb393&itok=-XZCfpBO)
Every Teacher Deserves This Support
Katy Seltz, a high school educator in Tennessee, shares how Facing History has made a difference to her and her students.
![Katy Seltz speaking at Memphis 2023 Benefit - FH2200152](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-01/Katy%20Seltz%20speaking%20at%20Memphis%202023%20Benefit%20-%20FH2200152.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=XYDX_niy)
Between Two Worlds: An Iranian American’s Perspective on History, Identity, and Hope
From losing the Iran they knew to revolution in 1979 to watching the current revolution from afar, a friend of Facing History shares her family's story.
!["Free Iran" sign and Iranian flags at Iranian human rights rally - Sacramento, CA](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-09/IMG_3440.jpg?h=c0bd333e&itok=Ch4QD4sk)
George Takei on Standing Up to Racism, Then and Now
George Takei speaks to the Facing History community about his childhood experience in an incarceration camp and anti-Asian racism on the rise today.
![A black and white photo of George Takei](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-09/George%20Takei%20_v2.png?h=9a1378d6&itok=sRJKlDnn)
Civic Education as Community Development: An Interview with Daniel Warner
A Facing History educator shares his journey to teaching and the importance of using primary sources in designing learning experiences for students.
![Headshot of Daniel Warner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-08/DanielWarnerHeadshot.jpg?h=8e42d36e&itok=9pQG3s6K)
What Does a Current Event Lesson Look Like?
Three Facing History educators discuss how breaking news and world events are integrated into their classroom routine.
![Educators Banjineh “Op” Browne, Jennifer Staysniak, And Bridget Riley.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/Educators_Banjineh_%E2%80%9COp%E2%80%9D_Browne%2C_Jenny_Staysniak%2C_and_Bridget_Riley_for_Current_Events.jpg?h=d0c7edc2&itok=lWOGfZc_)
Women's Suffrage at 100: The Key Role of Black Sororities
Dr. Tara White illuminates the role Black sorority sisters like Mary Church Terrell played in securing women’s suffrage in the United States.
![Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated was founded on January 13, 1913, by 22 collegiate women at Howard University to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need. The Founders of Delta Sigma Theta envisioned an organization committed to sisterhood, scholarship, service, and addressing the social issues of the time. Since its founding, Delta Sigma Theta has become one of the preeminent service-based sororities, with more than 300,000 initiated members and over 1,000 chartered chapt](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/Deltasigmathetafounders_Website.jpg?h=c58e89ab&itok=8iGww4AH)
bell hooks Taught Us to Transgress
Like many people of my generation who cut their teeth on the critical insights of bell hooks, news of her passing in December unleashed a wave of reflection for me about the ways she’s impacted me as a person and public scholar. Beyond the many moments of resonance I experienced while reading her writings over the years, her impact on me is most powerfully encapsulated in an experience I had in 2008 when I met her.
![bell hooks standing on stage and speaking while holding a microphone.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/bellhooks.jpeg?itok=jpRETw0k)
African Americans and the History of "Human Rights"
As a United Nations panel of experts is set up to investigate systemic racism and human rights abuses against Black people around the world, we explore a series of African American leaders who have invoked the language of “human rights” to underscore the urgency of their situation here in the U.S.
![Olympians on the podium, bowing their heads and raising a fist with a black glove.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/Fist_raised_Olympics_1968public_domain.jpeg?h=96687ce6&itok=yaBd2oCU)
13 Teaching Ideas on Human Rights
During Universal Human Rights Month, in December, we invite you to use any of these Teaching Ideas grounded in social-emotional learning (SEL) that provide ample social and historical context while being concise and easy to integrate into your classroom conversations.
![Paper cut outs of face profiles in different skin tones.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/graphical_diversity_paper_faces_1894061167.jpeg?h=3a5dff94&itok=qAstbdWw)