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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
History as Our Guide: Understanding What Divides and What Connects
Educator Thomas Lai FitzGibbon reflects on societal tensions and how to promote racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
Stonewall Was Important But Not Because it Was First
There is a long history of protests long before Stonewall that highlight the struggle of LGBTQ people to gain civil rights.
Advocating for Genocide Prevention: A Q&A With Mike Brand
Genocide prevention advocate Mike Brand talks about the power young people hold in helping to prevent genocides.