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.
Facing History on Martin Luther King Day: A message to our educators
Martin Luther King Day is a moment for reflection and service; for considering the life and legacy of an extraordinary individual; and for recommitting ourselves to the unfinished work he championed. At a time of extraordinary bigotry and violence, Dr. King challenged all Americans to confront our history of racial discrimination, to open our eyes to injustice, and to be intentional about building a better future.
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.
COP26, Environmental Justice, and Human Rights
The 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) that took place in Glasgow, Scotland from October to November 2021 was, in many ways, a historic event. However, even though the COP remains a crucial space for international cooperation in the fight against climate disaster, there is notable consternation over the unique burdens that various policies may place on poorer nations and those most vulnerable to adverse climate events.
6 New Books on Human Rights
Below are 6 books published in 2021 that speak to underacknowledged dimensions of human rights in history, teaching, and contemporary global society.
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.
Remembering Little Rock
Facing History shares on efforts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 and provides resources for educators to use with their students to promote historical understanding, critical thinking, social-emotional learning, and civic agency.
Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries on Teaching Reconstruction
Facing History shares highlights from Dr. Jeffries’ remarks during his engaging presentation concerning the significance and legacy of the Reconstruction Era.
Haiti in Historical Context
Facing History shares on Haiti’s often erased and obscured, yet extraordinary history of resistance.
Dr. Gholdy Muhammad on Cultivating Genius
Facing History shares on Dr. Gholdy Muhammad's work which explores how literacy came to be regarded as a critically important lever of social and political transformation within the Black community.
Reflecting on Anti-Black Violence, Justice, and Accountability
In the wake of Derek Chauvin’s conviction in the murder of George Floyd, we reflect on the historical and contemporary violence that surrounds this guilty verdict.