10 Questions for the Past: The 1963 Chicago Public Schools Boycott
Students explore the strategies, risks, and historical significance of the 1963 Chicago school boycott, while also considering bigger-picture questions about social progress.
![Crowd fills LaSalle Street between City Hall and building housing Board of Education as hundreds of demonstrators marched in Chicago on Oct. 22, 1963 following a one-day boycott of public schools.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1963_AfricanAmericanIntegrationAntiSchoolBoycott1963IL_FH2169828.jpg?h=12de4a96&itok=CAfhRaQg)
Remembering Rip Patton
Facing History commemorates the life of activist and Freedom Rider Ernest "Rip" Patton, Jr.
![Ernest "Rip" Patton, Jr. holding a picture of himself during a visit to the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/dr_ernest_rip_patton_freedom_rider_FH297343.jpg?h=1f0cc284&itok=ug3GbaWE)
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.
![Square headshot of Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-05/Dr_Hasan_Kwame_Jeffries_FH2191462_squarecrop.jpg?h=569f0efd&itok=19aFckKP)
6 Indigenous-Led COP26 Events You Can Stream
With the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) currently taking place, Facing History hand-selected a curated list of conference events that speak to the Indigenous ways of conceiving of the natural world and its relationship to humanity.
![Indigenous Justice is Climate Justice sign in crowd protesting for environmental justice.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/ijicj_large.jpeg?h=5dc822d2&itok=9Da4VNUE)
Remembering Sidney Poitier
In January, the nation stood still as we learned that renowned actor Sidney Poitier passed away at 94 years old. Poitier was both an actor and an activist—and despite a mixed array of perspectives over the years on the ways that he represented Black people in film—he undoubtedly played a leading role in African Americans’ fight for civil rights and more positive media representations from the silver screen to the streets.
![Sidney Poitier 1968 Portrait Photo](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/Sidney_Poitier_1968_Portrait_Photo.jpeg?h=9582604b&itok=SRzDQdJX)
5 New YA Books on Black History and Life
Some members of the Facing History staff are exploring these five new books published within the last year, and we invite you to explore them alongside us and share your reactions with us. These 5 titles cover essential topics from Black history with young audiences and address contemporary experiences of young Black people.
![Cover for the book: Ain't All Burned the Bright](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/aint_burned_all_the_bright_book_cover.jpeg?h=2ce16ca3&itok=EOMN4a3M)
10 Questions for the Present: Parkland Student Activism
Students identify strategies and tools that Parkland students have used to influence Americans to take action to reduce gun violence.
![Millbrook High School students demonstrate against gun violence outside their school in Frederick County, Va., Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, following a school shooting in which over a dozen people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., one week ago. (Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star via AP)](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_2018_StudentProtestAfterParkland_FH289815.jpg?h=ffeece36&itok=XUEFh1qx)
Black Athletes and Civil Rights: 6 Upstanders to Introduce to Your Students
Beyond the 1988 Jamaican Bobsled Team immortalized in the film Cool Runnings, Black athletes have played more central roles at the Winter Olympics than many people might realize. As we cheer on the 2022 Black Olympians, Black History Month is a great time to look back on the impact that Black Olympians and other Black athletes have beyond the world of sports.
![Portrait photo of boxing champion Jack Johnson in b&w](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/Jack_Johnson_portrait_photo_b%26w.jpeg?h=b388cfb8&itok=faMo6l1d)
Haiti in Historical Context
Facing History shares on Haiti’s often erased and obscured, yet extraordinary history of resistance.
![A woman holds a Haitian flag and roses at a church service following the earthquake of January 24, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/Haiti_flag_roses.jpeg?h=199d8c1f&itok=_xeHZ3uV)
Why and How to Teach Brown Girl Dreaming
Facing History offers an overview and guide for Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming, an ideal book to teach in the middle school classroom.
![The Book Cover of Brown Girl Dreaming.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/brown_girl_dreaming_cover_graphic.jpeg?h=d7fada95&itok=N_RjYI_j)
What I've Learned Along the Way
After 25 years of distinguished service to our organization, Dr. Karen Murphy, Facing History’s Director of International Strategy, will join our partner organization High Resolves as CEO of an initiative called The Human Responsibility Accelerator. In this article, we invited Karen to share a bit of what she has learned in more than two decades at Facing History.
![Photo of Dr. Karen Murphy teaching](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/karen_murphy_teaching_hands_raised.jpeg?h=06ac0d8c&itok=0XtPSmhB)
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.
![Olympians on the podium, bowing their heads and raising a fist with a black glove.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/Fist_raised_Olympics_1968public_domain.jpeg?h=96687ce6&itok=yaBd2oCU)