Democracy & Civic Engagement

The partnership between Facing History and Ourselves and the News Literacy Project calls upon Facing History’s unique pedagogy and the News Literacy Project’s deep understanding of the skills today’s students need to be critical consumers of news. This project integrates Facing History’s model, which asks students to make connections between history, current events, and their own lives, with the News Literacy Project’s goal to give students news literacy tools to become information citizens. Our work together aims to provide educators with the professional development and resources to help students find reliable information to make decisions, take action, and responsibly create and share news and information in a digital age.

Interested in learning more about issues of religion in America and issues of faith, identity, and belonging? Check out these additional resources from other organizations.

Facing History and Ourselves has created a suite of resources for our educator audience that focuses on the letter exchange between George Washington and the Hebrew congregation of Newport, RI. Lesson plans, videos, and much more will help teachers bring a study of the letter exchange and the issues surrounding it into their classrooms.

Friedrich Ebert was a German politician and leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Ebert began his professional life as a saddle maker, and became active in his labor union before joining the Social Democratic Party. While an elected member of the Reichstag (German legislature), Ebert became a leader of the SPD. He supported the war effort during World War One, although he opposed the expansionist war aims and lost three sons. Following the abdication of the Kaiser at the end of the war, Ebert was given the unenviable task of leading the transitional government. One of Ebert’s first challenges was a rebellion from the radical left, which he put down in alliance with the conservative generals. The National Assembly chose Ebert to serve as President of the Republic. Committed to democracy and to the Republic, Ebert struggled to represent all of the people of Germany.