Facing History and Ourselves - Denver/Rocky Mountain States Feed

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Douglas A. Blackmon Featured in Denver News Outlets

EmilyBlackie — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 19:23:38 +0000

press_type:

In the News

February 4, 2014

Denver radio station KGNU, Metropolitan State University of Denver student run newspaper The Metropolitan, and PBS/KRMA's Colorado State of Mind have featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Douglas A. Blackmon following his January 30, appearance at a Denver-based Facing History and Ourselves Community Conversation, held in partnership with The Allstate Foundation.

Blackmon spoke about his groundbreaking book, Slavery by another Name: the Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, which delivers a searing examination of the enslavement of African Americans and the legacy that persisted deep into the 20th century.

In his 30 years as a journalist, Blackmon has written extensively about the American quandary of race – exploring such issues as the integration of schools in his childhood Mississippi Delta farm town, lost episodes of the Civil Rights movement, and how contemporary society should grapple with a troubled past.

“I’m in the business of casting a light where people would rather it not be cast,” said Blackmon.

Read “Journalist Discusses Slavery at Auraria” in The Metropolitan.

Listen to an interview with Blackmon on KGNU from Thursday, January 30, 2014.

Watch Blackmon on Colorado State of Mind (interview begins at 13:55).

Find upcoming Community Conversations.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in Denver.

"Denver Urban Spectrum" Features Upcoming Community Conversation

EmilyBlackie — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 17:46:52 +0000

press_type:

In the News

January 1, 2014

This month’s edition of Denver Urban Spectrum has featured Facing History and Ourselves’ upcoming Community Conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Douglas Blackmon.

Blackmon is the author of Slavery by Another Name: The Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, which delivers a searing examination of the enslavement of African Americans and its legacy, which persisted deep into the 20th century.

In his 30 years as a journalist, Blackmon has written extensively about the American quandary of race –exploring such issues as the integration of schools in his childhood Mississippi Delta farm town, lost events of the civil rights movement, and how contemporary society should grapple with a troubled past.

Blackmon will speak at the Auraria Campus Tivoli Student Union, Turnhalle in Denver on January 30, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. As part of Facing History’s national series of Community Conversations, in partnership with The Allstate Foundation, this event is free and open to the public.

Learn more about the event in Denver Urban Spectrum (page 7).

Learn more about Facing History’s work in Denver.

“Filmmaker Magazine” Features “I Learn America”

EmilyBlackie — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:23:45 +0000

press_type:

In the News

November 13, 2013

Filmmaker Magazine has featured an interview with Jean-Michel Dissard and Gitte Peng, filmmakers of the new documentary I Learn America. The interview precedes a screening of the film hosted by Facing History and Ourselves and The Allstate Foundation on November 14, 2013 at the Elaine Wolf Theatre in Denver, Colorado.

The film follows five immigrant teenagers over the course of one year at the International High School in Lafayette, a public high school in Brooklyn dedicated to serving newly arrived immigrants from all over the world. The students strive to master English, adapt to families they haven’t seen in years, confront universal trials of adolescence, and search for a future they can claim as their own.

Read “Five Questions for I Learn America’s Jean-Michel Dissard and Gitte Peng” in Filmmaker Magazine.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in Denver and Rocky Mountain States.

The free Community Conversations event series presented by Facing History and The Allstate Foundation features prominent scholars, authors, filmmakers, and policy leaders in conversation with community members on issues of civic engagement, individual and collective responsibility, and tolerance.

“EdNews Colorado” Spotlights Facing History Blog

EmilyBlackie — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:36:34 +0000

press_type:

In the News

October 24, 2013

Education News Colorado has featured the blog post “Expanding the Network: Reconnecting with Mentors Via Social Media,” by Facing History and Ourselves' Julia Rappaport. on its homepage. The post originally appeared on Facing History's InterFacing blog.

Facing History and Ourselves Awards $40,000 to Cutting-Edge Classroom Projects in Denver and Around the World

EmilyBlackie — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:12:36 +0000

press_type:

Press Release

May 29, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contact: Emily Blackie
Facing History and Ourselves
Emily_Blackie@facing.org
216-321-9220 x226

Facing History and Ourselves Awards $40,000 to Cutting-Edge Classroom Projects in Denver
and Around the World
Innovation grants honor 20 Facing History educators around the world

May 29, 2013, CHICAGO, IL – This spring, the Brookline-based international educational non-profit Facing History and Ourselves awarded $40,000 dollars to fund 20 innovative, cutting-edge classroom projects around the world, including $1,500 for high school teacher Jennifer Derosby, at Girls Athletic Leadership School in Denver, Colorado.

Derosby will establish a restorative justice program at the Girls Athletic Leadership School. She will anchor her initiative in an 8th-grade Facing History unit on the history of South Africa and their Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Using the lessons from their study of restorative justice, students and teachers will work together to begin a peer mediation program at the school.

About the Margot Stern Strom Innovation Grants
The Innovation Grants were established in 2006 but reintroduced this year with a focus on technological innovation and collaborative learning. Each year, Facing History will review the previous year’s award winners and their projects. At the end of the year, one grand prize finalist will receive $5,000 to continue their work. For a complete listing of individual winners and winning projects, click here.

About Facing History and Ourselves
Facing History and Ourselves was created in 1976 by Brookline, Massachusetts, by educators who believed that instilling intellectual vigor and curiosity goes hand-in-hand with teaching facts and figures. We provide training, professional development, and resources that support the practical needs, and the spirits, of educators worldwide who share the goal of creating a better, more informed, and more thoughtful society. With 10 offices around the globe, we reach more than two million students each year through our worldwide network of more than 29,000 trained educators.

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Colorado Educator and Board Member Reflects on Facing History

EmilyBlackie — Fri, 31 May 2013 12:57:04 +0000

press_type:

In the News

May 22, 2013

The Lakewood, Colorado-based Jefferson County Education Association News featured a reflection from Facing History and Ourselves educator and Denver and Rocky Mountain States Advisory Board Member, Stephi Rossi, who wrote about the impact Facing History has had on the way she approaches teaching and in her life.

“I like to believe that in an unjust moment, I would do the right thing and be an upstander, but I know that history has rendered even the most just, helpless in certain situations,” Rossi wrote. “The [Facing History] curriculum allows both teachers and students an opportunity to safely explore those difficult and complex situations and arrive at a more complete understanding of human beings and their behavior.”
Rossi uses a Facing History unit in her 10th- and 12th-grade history classrooms at Wheat Ridge High School in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

“Using historical case studies from the Holocaust, to the Little Rock Nine, to Japanese internment camps, to the genocide in Rwanda, students open up very difficult conversations about complex human behavior in a unique way. They learn to combat prejudice with compassion, indifference with participation, and myth and misinformation with knowledge,” Rossi wrote about the Facing History unit. “Accessibility to difficult and painful topics is necessary in order to gain a deeper understanding and learning how to do so without students becoming mired in a collective guilt or without them shutting down because the magnitude of the pain is too great is critical. The [Facing History] program provides a vehicle to accomplish both concerns. Students begin to see that their own daily choices cannot only have an immediate impact for a student in a hallway, but also provide a critical link to a safer future.”

Read “Facing History and Ourselves” on the Jefferson County Education Association website.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in Denver and Rocky Mountain States.

Holocaust Survivor Addresses Facing History Students in Cheyenne, Wyoming

EmilyBlackie — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:28:46 +0000

press_type:

In the News

May 9, 2013

A Colorado Holocaust survivor brought the lessons of history to life during a packed all-school assembly in Cheyenne, Wyoming, this week. Following the presentation at East High School from artist Paula Burger, students reflected on the talk, telling the local CBS News station that the visit helped them to connect with the Holocaust stories they’ve studied this year as part of their Facing History and Ourselves class, which is taught by Shane Atkinson.

"It was really inspiring. It took a lot of courage for her to come up and talk about she spoke so calmly and it took a lot of strength out of her," senior Sierra Galicia said. Her classmate, senior Jennifer Nelson, agreed. "It helps you out personally because you learn how to be an upstander in the world and not just let things go by,” Nelson said.

Next month, nine of the Facing History East High School students including Galicia and two of their teachers will travel to Germany and Poland to visit historical sites as part of their study of the Holocaust.

"It will really bring the whole Holocaust to life for me and give me a whole new perspective I've already gained from the class. I'm excited to see how my perspective will change just by being there and actually feeling what it was like," Galicia told CBS.

Read “Holocaust Survivor Visits East High School” by Kyle Markley on CBS News 5.

Bring a survivor of the Holocaust to your classroom and read and watch testimony from survivors on Facing History’s website.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in Denver and Rocky Mountain States.

A Facing History Education Connects Students with Personal History

EmilyBlackie — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:31:47 +0000

May 9, 2013

For everyone to view

Student

DEN dinner photo 2_resized.jpg

Eloise Gordon is an 8th grade student at Stanley British Primary School in Denver, Colorado. On May 8, 2013, she addressed teachers, students, and community members at the fifth annual Facing History and Ourselves Benefit Dinner in Denver. At the event, she talked about how studying the Holocaust in her Facing History and Ourselves class helped her connect with her own personal history. Below is an edited version of her speech.

Eloise Gordon (left) with Carlotta Walls LaNier and
Facing History student

My grandmother is a living link to the Holocaust. She was born in Hungary before Hitler’s army invaded, before millions of Jews like her were rounded up and slaughtered. She saw hatred and bigotry, helped along by the silence of people who just stood by and watched, doing nothing as her friends died, or were treated like animals.

My grandmother saw the worst evil that people can do.

But my grandmother also saw the best of people. She survived the Holocaust because she was rescued by Raul Wahlenberg - a man who was willing to stand up against the evil. She came here and built a life. For all the horrible things she has seen, my grandmother never lost hope and has always lived her life looking forward.

Listening to her, and to her friends - one of them a survivor of the concentration camps - her story became part of my own. She is as much a part of me as the color of my hair.

But what I never really understood until recently, until my Facing History teacher asked us to express what we had learned about the Holocaust, was how incredibly lucky I am to be able to look into her eyes.

It’s not just because she’s my grandmother and I love her and I’m glad she’s here. I am lucky because I am part of the last generation that will ever have the chance to look into the eyes of a living survivor.

I am 13 years old. I was born 65 years after the Holocaust ended. Even now, too few people get the chance that I have had to hear about the Holocaust directly from people who survived it.

That’s an amazing gift. It also is a responsibility.

I have a responsibility to remember. To remember the stories of my grandmother and my grandfather – and the stories of the 11 million who didn’t survive those awful years. Hopefully my sculpture can play some small part in keeping that memory alive.

I also feel a responsibility to try to create the kind of community where something like the Holocaust could never happen again. To stand up for someone - or for a group of people - who are being picked on simply because they are different. A responsibility to be a voice that includes rather than excludes.

I have a responsibility not to forget. The way I studied the Holocaust in my Facing History class with my teacher David Marais will help me remember – because we learned with our heads and our hearts. Yes, we learned about dates and events, but we also read diaries and learned about real people. We learned about the horrible and the heroic acts. And we learned about those who failed to act at all.

Again I want to thank my teacher and Facing History for teaching me so much about this period and inspiring me to feel history.

But mostly, I want to thank my grandmother – and the other survivors here tonight – for being living examples of hope to me. And reminders of the responsibility that I have – and that we all have.

The time is now. The need is urgent. The path is education. Find out how you can help more students receive a Facing History education.

Facing History Brings Lessons of Past Alive in Denver Classrooms

EmilyBlackie — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:08:30 +0000

May 9, 2013

For everyone to view

Teacher

Jennifer Derosby is an Allstate Facing History teacher at the Girls Athletic Leadership School in Denver, Colorado. On May 8, 2013, she addressed teachers, students, and community members at the fifth annual Facing History and Ourselves Benefit Dinner in Denver. At the event, she shared the impact that Facing History teaching strategies, resources, and support have made on her and her students.

My name is Jennifer Derosby and I am an Allstate Facing History Teacher Leader in my 12th year of teaching. I currently teach 7th grade social studies at the Girls Athletic Leadership School in Denver.

I was introduced to Facing History and Ourselves by a colleague during my first year of teaching. I immediately gravitated toward Facing History’s model of using identity and the complexity of individual choices as a way to deepen my students’ understanding of difficult concepts in our world. I was especially moved by the way in which Facing History invites us to look at our own choices and explore the ways history is impacted by the countless, seemingly small choices made by ordinary people that can be the catalyst for great things.

A striking example of the power of individual choices would be the case of the nine African American students who were the first to integrate Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957. When I teach the Facing History unit “Choices in Little Rock,” I am moved by my students’ responses. In many history classes, there is a tendency to teach primarily about the actions of those who hold power. When we do this, our students often become further disconnected from their own agency.

Yet, they see themselves in Carlotta, Melba, Minnie Jean, Elizabeth, Jefferson, Ernest, Gloria, Terrence, and Thelma – the students that came to be known as the Little Rock Nine. The case study of the desegregation crisis in Little Rock shows my students that although the Little Rock Nine did not set out to be civil rights activists, they did not back down from that mantle. Through this history, my students grapple with what they would do, they explore current conditions that perpetuate inequality, and they see that work still needs to be done to make our world one in which diversity and equality are embraced. They begin to see that they, as middle and high school students, do have the power to effect change just as the Little Rock Nine did 56 years ago.

Facing History takes significant events in history and introduces them to students through individual stories that engage them and enhance their understanding. These stories are what help us all get to the heart of our complex past.

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Find out how you can help more students make the right choices.

Denver Board Member Receives Education Award

EmilyBlackie — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:19:27 +0000

press_type:

In the News

April 10, 2013

The Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC)awarded Facing History and Ourselves Denver & Rocky Mountain States Advisory Board Member Bill Gold II the Cal Frazier Investing in Education Award on April 10 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Colorado.

The Cal Frazier Investing in Education Award honors those in the Colorado community who demonstrate profound leadership on issues impacting academic achievement. Gold is the founder and former chairman of Goldbug, Inc. and a former PEBC board member. A member of Facing History’s Denver & Rocky Mountain States Advisory Board since 2006, Gold was one of two recipients of the award along with author and co-founder of PEBC, Susan Zimmerman.

Read coverage of the award: “Push Out Old Rules that Impede Best Educational Practices, Expert Says” by Steve McMillan in the Denver Post.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in Denver & Rocky Mountain States.