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A silent conversation

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Students have a written conversation with peers and use silence as a tool to explore a topic in depth.

English & Language Arts

History

Social Studies

Using the strategies from Facing History is almost like an awakening.

- Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif

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Big Paper: Building a Silent Conversation

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Students have a written conversation with peers and use silence as a tool to explore a topic in depth.

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Washington Post Super Bowl Ad 2019

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'Democracy Dies in Darkness': Super Bowl commercial (2019)

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The Free Press and The First Amendment: Why it Matters

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The Free Press and The First Amendment: Why it Matters

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Video

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The Free Press and The First Amendment: Why it Matters

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What is the role of the free press and the First Amendment in America? NBC News explores the history and importance in a report produced at the request of the White House Correspondents' Association.

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Pointers on how to write

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Strong from the start: leads and nut grafs

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Link to the Slides presentation

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Maggie Danielle Current Events Newspapers Notes

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Evaluating and Writing Leads -OUP - Google Docs

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How does ideology allow the other-izing of groups?

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History Day has been the vehicle that creates an understanding and appreciation of history while developing the necessary 21st-century tools, skills and aptitudes for my diverse student population.

‑Martin Marrin, Teacher

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History Day has been the vehicle that creates an understanding and appreciation of history while developing the necessary 21st-century tools, skills and aptitudes for my diverse student population. ‑Martin Marrin, Teacher

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"I believe in the power of Facing History."

-Durias D., Facing History Alum

"I went to a Facing History workshop and it opened my eyes."

-Tareeq R., Educator

Facing History & Ourselves
uses lessons of history
to challenge teachers
and their students
to stand up to bigotry and hate.

Facing History & Ourselves is more than our name. It is an active and continuous process that calls on each of us to connect the choices of the past to those we face today. To build a more just and equitable future, we must face our history in all its complexity, Are you ready to face history with us?

Learn how you can experience Facing History

Facing History has thousands of research-based resources and professional learning events to support Social Studies and English Language Arts education.

Not in the United States?

Sign Up

And hopefully, they will always remember what happened to us and make sure that it won't happen again.

Sonia Weitz, Holocaust survivor and poet

Sign up to download the PDF version of our textbook, Holocaust and Human Behavior.

Facing History students are 94% more likely than their peers to report that their class motivated them to learn.

92% of Facing History teachers agree that Facing History helps their students stand up for what they believe even when others disagree.

91% of elective teachers agree or strongly agree that their Facing History course promoted their students' abilities to ground reading, writing, and speaking in evidence from text.

Demand for our work is greater than ever. Make a 100% tax-deductible donation today and you'll help us reach even more teachers and students around the world, giving them the tools to stand up to bigotry and hate.

Gift Amount

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Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate.

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How do ELA, ELD and HSS work together to make content accessible?

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How do ELA, ELD and HSS work together to make content accessible?

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How am I using text to allow students to build  their questions and inquiry?

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How am I using text to allow students to build  their questions and inquiry?

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For over twenty years, Our Family Coalition has provided community-building and support for LGBTQ+ families with children, prospective parents, youth, allies, community partners, and volunteers.

We offer a wide range of programming - 250-300 events annually - including informational workshops, peer- and professional-led support groups, field trip outings, seasonal celebrations, informal meet-ups, play groups, and more in both San Francisco and the East Bay.

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For over twenty years, Our Family Coalition has provided community-building and support for LGBTQ+ families with children, prospective parents, youth, allies, community partners, and volunteers. We offer a wide range of programming - 250-300 events annually - including informational workshops, peer- and professional-led support groups, field trip outings, seasonal celebrations, informal meet-ups, play groups, and more in both San Francisco and the East Bay.

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Document Analysis Tool

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Request military records and learn about other services for yourself or a family member.

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Primary Source Analysis Tools

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Padlet ofResources for Talking about Race/Hate Speech/ etc.

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Padlet ofResources for Talking about Race/Hate Speech/ etc.

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Food Timeline: food history research service

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Food Timeline: food history reference & research service

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Jonathan, also known as Samantha Braxton, publishes as the topic "Transformista" - also equivalent to "Crossdresser". It all started at Halloween 17 years ago, in 2005, when Samantha first came to life, and now she is a part of the Human Library Book Depot Lima.

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Unjudge someone - The Human Library Organization

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Jonathan, also known as Samantha Braxton, publishes as the topic "Transformista" - also equivalent to "Crossdresser". It all started at Halloween 17 years ago, in 2005, when Samantha first came to life, and now she is a part of the Human Library Book Depot Lima.

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. These resources include classroom lessons, webinars, grants, podcasts, policy guides and much more. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

The program emphasizes anti-bias and social justice. The anti-bias approach encourages children and young people to challenge prejudice and learn how to be agents of change in their own lives. Our Social Justice Standards show how anti-bias education works through the four domains of identity, diversity, justice and action.

Teaching Tolerance was founded in 1991 to prevent the growth of hate. We began by publishing Teaching Tolerance magazine and producing films chronicling the modern civil rights movement. Today, our community includes more than 500,000 educators who read our magazine, screen our films, visit our website, participate in our professional development workshops and webinars, use our curriculum or engage in our social media community.

Visit Tolerance.org to learn more.

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. These resources include classroom lessons, webinars, grants, podcasts, policy guides and much more. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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One of the great challenges of teaching high school history is negotiating two competing charges.

We must equip students with a degree of cultural literacy by exposing them to America's past and humanity's shared heritage. In states like New York and Virginia (where I have spent my teaching career), students must be able to demonstrate this content knowledge when they take high-stakes history exams.

But we must also ensure that our high school students gain the skills and knowledge necessary to be critical thinkers and citizens in our democracy. Our world is saturated with media, and students need to learn how to evaluate the information they encounter, based on where it comes from, who is producing it and when, its use of evidence, and its intended audience.

I have found that teaching history through inquiry provides a model to serve both these masters, simultaneously. Here are some tips on how to do that:

1) Carefully craft your questions.
To teach a history lesson using the inquiry approach requires you to come up with a question that students can answer validly only by pointing to factual evidence. Crafting the right question is the key step that ensures students learn to critically evaluate information. Of course, "Should the U.S. have dropped the atomic bomb?" will certainly engage your students in a good debate, but this question can be easily and validly approached without historical evidence. You'll get more leverage from it if you set it aside for the time being.

Instead, start with this kind of question: "Why did the U.S. drop the atomic bomb?"

2) Engage students in examining evidence.
Do not answer the question for the students: Ask them instead for their initial takes on why they think the U.S. did it. Then, give them primary or secondary documents that confirm their viewpoint and ask them to develop a new point of view based on the evidence.

The inquiry process should not stop there, though. Next, present students with evidence that forces them to question their viewpoints, and ask them to reevaluate their original claims. Lather, rinse, repeat, as often as you can. In the end, force students to answer the question using all the evidence, not only the pieces that confirm their view. Students should not only make their arguments, but address all reasonable counter-arguments, as well as addressing the evidence that may challenge their conclusions.

3) Move on to more nuanced questions.
Once students are better informed, then it is time to discuss the moral question: "Should the U.S. have dropped the atomic bomb?" By now, armed with a deeper understanding of the historical context, students should be able to provide more nuanced responses than they would have at the start of the unit.

By forcing students to engage with all evidence, you can help them gain greater insight into history. You can also give them practice in participating in elevated political discourse—a mode that is very different from what they see on television news (with talking heads screaming at each other, but not listening).

4) Navigate myths with the inquiry approach.
The inquiry approach can be particularly useful in guiding students in navigating the myths of history.

For example, in the Western Civilization curriculum I grew up with, the story went that the Scientific Revolution marked the birth of the Age of Reason, bringing the world out of the religious superstition of the Dark Ages. This version of history ignores the scientific knowledge of the world beyond Europe, and even much of the scholarly learning that was occurring in European universities starting in the 12th century.

In my global history course, I give students documents from before and during the "Revolution" that show both reason and superstition, and let students write their own essays about how revolutionary the change actually was. I require students to engage with all the evidence, not just that which most obviously supports their viewpoint. Students become expert myth-busters, and also learn to see the complexities involved in making broad, general statements about a time period.

Some might protest that this takes too long, but it can be done in limited time spans, as well. Last year, I could only devote one class period to the Crusades. I opened the class with a brief lecture setting the scene for the Crusades. Then, instead of walking through the full inquiry process, I gave half the class excerpts from two documents offering the reasons for the Crusades from the Christian perspective. The other half received two eye-witness accounts from the Muslim point of view. I then led a class discussion based on the readings. It took students about three minutes to figure out that they had different readings. We then switched documents so students could encounter other perspectives, before holding a whole-class discussion to draw some conclusions. The whole process took 30 minutes. For those who would claim this is moral relativism, please note, I never asked my students who was "right" in this case—only to identify what happened and why.

5) Identify helpful resources.
The greatest challenge in teaching with the inquiry approach is taking the time to find the right documents. Thankfully, there are two very strong, free online curricula that have done much of this hard work for teachers: The Stanford History Education Group'sReading Like a Historian U.S. history curriculum and San Diego State's World History for Us All. To see more examples of how this can work in action, I strongly recommend the Historical Thinking Matters site, which has four U.S. history examples.

6) Prepare critical thinkers.
We live in an age of information overload. Students need to form the habit of taking a stance of healthy skepticism toward the information they receive. And they need the tools to work themselves out of that cave of skepticism towards the light of humble knowledge. Teaching history through inquiry helps students move toward knowledge by engaging with the primary documents of the past.

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One of the great challenges of teaching high school history is negotiating two competing charges. We must equip students with a degree of cultural literacy by exposing them to America's past and humanity's shared heritage.

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This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the various roles of professionals who work in the community. While the focus of this inquiry is limited primarily to first responders, teachers could expand the discussion to include other community helpers or "school helpers" such as the custodial staff, cafeteria staff, librarians, etc.

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The UC Berkeley Library helps current and future users find, evaluate, use and create knowledge to better the world.

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Enjoy OMCA at Home

While OMCA may be closed, we are committed to doing what we do best-staying connected with our community. Enjoy online learning resources and activities, behind-the-scenes videos, our favorite works from our collection, and more.
" learn more

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Oakland Museum of California: a Bay Area Art, History & Science Museum

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While OMCA may be closed, we are committed to doing what we do best-staying connected with our community. Enjoy online learning resources and activities, behind-the-scenes videos, our favorite works from our collection, and more. " learn more

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Join the 2020 #LGBTQHistorychallenge. See the calendar of events for LGBTQ History Month activities around the state.

This website is dedicated to "Teaching LGBTQ History" which primarily focuses on providing resources and materials that fulfill the requirements put forth by the FAIR Education Act with regards to LGBTQ history.

As Tom Adams, Deputy Superintendent of the California Department of Education once stated, "These standards are the floor, not the ceiling, for what we want to teach." As the website and resources develop, we will be including lesson plans and materials that educators in California, and beyond, can use to teach about LGBTQ history in every time period.

This site serves as a comprehensive reference hub for information regarding the FAIR Education Act, as well as for History Framework Lesson Plans and General LGBTQ Lesson Plans, and resources to support teachers as they work with the new content required by the FAIR Education Act. We are honored to work together with you to help California's history and social sciences education be more Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful for all K-12 students.

The dozens of lesson plans, books, and video resources are sorted into Elementary School ( Framework and General), Middle School ( Framework and General), and High School ( Framework and General) grade-levels. Once you've used a lesson plan or a resource, please consider providing feedback, to help fellow educators benefit from your experience. Our Resources page list additional sources for LGBTQ history materials.

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FAIR - ACCURATE - INCLUSIVE - RESPECTFUL Join the 2020 #LGBTQHistorychallenge. See the calendar of events for LGBTQ History Month activities around the state. This website is dedicated to "Teaching LGBTQ History" which primarily focuses on providing resources and materials that fulfill the requirements put forth by the FAIR Education Act with regards to LGBTQ ...

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In this statement, GLSEN's National Student Council condemns police brutality and calls for greater support for Black lives

Read the Statement

Get involved and join your community, local, or state GLSEN chapter

GLSEN Chapters create LGBTQ-inclusive schools. Community-led chapters offer teacher trainings, student support, community outreach, and more.

Recent Research

Research, Reports, and Briefs

Research, Reports, and Briefs

Research, Reports, and Briefs

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In this statement, GLSEN's National Student Council condemns police brutality and calls for greater support for Black lives Read the Statement GLSEN Chapters create LGBTQ-inclusive schools. Community-led chapters offer teacher trainings, student support, community outreach, and more. Research, Reports, and Briefs Research, Reports, and Briefs Research, Reports, and Briefs

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History UnErased is solving that problem by putting LGBTQ history in its rightful place - the classroom.

The first and only complete K-12 LGBTQ-inclusive, intersectional US history and social studies curriculum in the nation for mainstream courses - and essential for educational equity and equality.

Intersections & Connections is anchored in primary sources curated from digital and print collections from libraries and archives across the nation, as well as the Library of Congress, National Archives, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and more. The expertise of historians, archivists, classroom teachers, and education policy leaders is woven into every aspect of our curriculum and work with K-12 schools.

"This isn't LGBTQ history, it's just history. Everyone should be learning this from elementary school on." - Michele

"Why do the adults make this such a big deal? It's history. We have a right to know." - Vicki

Meet Fred Karger, the first OUT major-party candidate to run for president of the United States, who has a personal message for you about why our Intersections & Connections K-12 curriculum is essential for all students.

Fred Karger is a retired Republican consultant who worked as a senior consultant for Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. His historic run for president was in 2012 within the Republican party.

People who we label and understand today as LGBTQ have always existed - in every part of humanity - but the absence of LGBTQ narratives in our nation's classrooms means that students never learn the stories of people and events that were critical to the founding and shaping of the United States. Erasing this history teaches students that LGBTQ people never existed. And the absence of LGBTQ identities in what students learn about our shared human history has been doing harm, as evidenced by the staggering statistics relating to LGBTQ youth and suicidality, homelessness, and risk behaviors. But our Intersections & Connections curriculum is changing this!

As our curriculum makes LGBTQ history a part of mainstream history, it is also allowing students to apply their own identity lens(es) as they approach their learning, whether it be race, gender, ethnicity, or nationality. This ensures dignity and equitable representation for all students in the story of "We the People." And our unique, whole-school partnership model is ensuring educators are well-supported.

"I wish this was part of my childhood education, as it would have been life-changing to have learned LGBTQ history in school. History UnErased's curriculum is essential to ensure a welcoming place for us in society." - Jim, parent

Meet Walter Naegle, Bayard Rustin's partner. Walter has a personal message for you about why learning LGBTQ history is essential for all students.

For nearly every major civil rights event students study in school, Bayard Rustin had a hand in it. Rustin was Dr. King's lead strategist and convinced him to employ the tactics of Gandhi with nonviolence and peaceful protests. Rustin organized and spoke at the historic 1963 March on Washington, but his name did not appear in the program and, until recently, was erased from the history he helped to shape. In 2013, Rustin was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Walter Naegle, Bayard Rustin's partner, accepted the award at the White House on his behalf.

Our approach to working with K-12 schools is a partnership model designed to reach every school community member. The introduction to our curriculum for parents/caregivers, as well as all school staff, addresses questions that often accompany the idea of teaching LGBTQ-inclusive history, especially because our curriculum connects with topics of race and gender. This is working to dispel any misperceptions, allay any fear, and include everyone in the learning. This is the first step in paving the way for lasting societal change that is welcoming and safe for all LGBTQ people.

"None of us know what this should look like so imaginations run wild. Glad I came. I am definitely leaving this meeting with greater understanding and happy to have learned." - Cecilia, parent

There are schools RIGHT NOW, across the nation, ready to bring our curriculum into their classrooms but they lack the funding. Your donation and support help History UnErased continue putting life-affirming, life-changing, and life-saving LGBTQ history into its rightful place - the classroom.

"Everyone in the world needs to learn about this. It can change the world." Student

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LGBTQ inclusive curriculum professional development to teach LGBTQ-inclusive history with proficiency and confidence

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4th & 8th grade