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.
The Long Struggle for Indigenous Peoples' Day
For generations the stories of Indigenous Peoples have been sidelined and misrepresented. Indigenous Peoples' Day makes space for this vital history.
![2017 Indigenous Peoples March](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-10/2017_Indigenous_Peoples_March.jpg?h=13cefaf9&itok=d0nPBDfj)
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)
Centering Queer History and Students in the Classroom: Insights from Eric Marcus
Eric Marcus speaks with Facing History about his experience researching LGBTQIA+ history and how he helps students connect to these stories.
![Students hold a pride flag](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/Diverse_Students_With_Pride_Flag_Stock_FH2187533.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=j7XSTcPX)
On Living Deliberately
Kaitlin Smith offers personal reflections on what it means to live deliberately.
![Kaitlin Smith kneeling in front of a rock pile and cairns left by visitors at the original site of Henry David Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond State Reservation in Concord, Massachusetts.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-10/waldenKS3.jpg?h=818f1ba2&itok=S_RIxh3h)
Identity, Literature, and Possibility: A Conversation with Nicole Chung
Facing History's Franklin Stebbins sits down with Nicole Chung as she recounts her experience growing up navigating anti-Asian racism as a transracial adoptee of Korean descent within a white family in small-town Oregon.
![All You Can Ever Know book cover beside Nicole Chung headshot.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/nicolechung2022_large.jpeg?h=f7d9296c&itok=ZCctLuJk)
Helen Zia on the Asian American Movement
This article examines the rise of the Asian American movement through the leading voice of Helen Zia, a Chinese American author and activist working at the intersections of struggles for racial and LGBTQ justice, who helped provide a foundation for AAPI-led resistance against racism and violence.
![Asian American Dreams book cover beside Helen Zia headshot.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/HZ%20and%20AAD_Large.jpeg?h=151e6280&itok=RLlhomJ7)
Complicating "Asian Americans"
Facing History explores the complex story surrounding this term to broaden educators' understanding of and ability to teach about AAPI and API histories and contemporary life.
![Asian American graphic.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/AsianAmerican.png?h=69a7c3f8&itok=klCHKqw0)
On Existing: A Personal Reflection
Facing History staff takes a moment to reflect on personal experiences of being a minority amidst a climate of hate and the ability to use reading as a tool for discovering oneself.
![Photo from trans rights march.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/transreflection.jpeg?h=c6980913&itok=xFqakjYv)
A Brief History of Barbie: From Fashion Model to Ida B. Wells
The introduction of the Ida B. Wells Barbie as part of the Women Series of Barbies marks an opportunity to gain meaningful insight into changing conceptions of gender, race, and education through the emergence and evolution of Barbie.
![Ida B. Wells barbie in court.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/idwbarbie_large.jpeg?h=e188ef2c&itok=DaKAijbC)
Exploring Audre Lorde’s Intersectionality
Audre Lorde was a Black lesbian scholar, feminist, mother, and poet who challenged us to think about the intersectionality of politics and identity.
![A headshot of Audre Lorde taken in 1980; her finger rests on her chin, and she is looking down](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-09/Audre%20Lorde.jpg?h=e9403ca4&itok=ckSP80ub)