Ideas This Week

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. 

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.

Facing History shares ten titles released in the last year that bring important themes in LGBTQIA+ history and contemporary life to the fore, exploring the diverse ways in which this extensive topic is explored by educators, intellectuals, and thought leaders. 

Facing History offers a rich array of online exhibitions and primary resources to open and/or revitalize reflection in your classroom about the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people across space and time.

With the commencement of Pride Month, Facing History provides a number of resources that help educators explore LGTBQIA+ histories and experiences to ensure these themes remain central beyond this celebratory month.

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) thought leaders reveal their experiences with “single stories” to demonstrate what it can look like to push back against restrictive narratives that dominate American society.

Most school curriculum fails to adequately address Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) histories and identities, which contributes to a widespread lack of understanding that fuels the anti-AAPI hate we see today. Facing History provides suggestions and resources for educators to better address AAPI histories so as to avoid continuing this damaging trend.

In response to recent mass shootings involving perpetrators targeting innocent people for no other reason than their identities or group membership, Facing History provides teachers with a newly updated resource, Teaching in the Wake of Violence, for guidance on effectively addressing these tragic events with students.   

The story of Chinese American activist and philosopher, Grace Lee Boggs, provides an inspiring example of the effectiveness of cross-racial organizing work between Black and Asian communities in pursuing racial justice by discovering shared stakes, committing to collective action, and nurturing ongoing resistance. 

Many conversations regarding Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and histories fail to address the complicated nature of “Asian Americans” as a concept. 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.

Facing History invites educators to take advantage of the resources we've gathered from a host of cultural institutions to expand what the classroom has to offer on the historical and contemporary experiences of AAPI peoples.  

Learn about the history behind Gay-Straight alliance student groups and GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.