Resource Catalogue
1. RESOURCE BOOKS
Holocaust and Human Behaviour [Interdisciplinary resource]
This resource book provides an interdisciplinary approach to citizenship and human human rights education. The readings and activities explore the consequences of dis-crimination, racism, and anti-semitism by holding up “the tarnished mirror of history” to one of the most violent times in the recent past–the 1930s and 1940s. As students read and reflect, they investigate the forces that undermined democracy in Germany, betrayed a generation of young people, and ultimately led to the Holocaust. The book also connects that history to the moral questions students must confront in their own lives, particularly those related to identity, violence, power, and conformity.
Race and Membership in American History: [We and They]
The Eugenics Movement
At what point do differences become powerful social divisions? The ways Americans have responded to that question at various times in history still shape the most basic decisions we make: Who may live among us? Who may marry? Who may have children? Who will be educated?
Race and Membership in American History explores those decisions by focusing on eugenics, a branch of scientific inquiry that sought to end social ills by ridding society of “inferior traits.” Popular in the early 20th century, its strongest support was in the United States and later Nazi Germany. Race and Membership deepens studies of American and world history. It also enhances science, literature, and social science courses by exploring the links between science and society.
Stories of Identity: Religion, Migration, and Belonging in a Changing World [We and They]
This resource book offers educators and students avenues to examine migration and identity through storytelling. It includes immigration stories, both individual and collective, in memoirs, journalistic accounts, and interviews. These experiences reflect a recent and global phenomenon in which identity and citizenship are challenged by the blurring of national boundaries. By exploring the stories of young migrants and their changing communities, Stories examines the fluidity of identity.
What Do We Do With A Difference?
France and the debate over Headscarves in Schools [We and They]
The debate over headscarves in French public schools offers a case study for examination of the role of religion in public life. What Do We Do with a Difference? features an essay that provides critical background to France’s national debate over the veil as a declaration of religious practice, and other meaningful readings to encourage classroom discussion.
This new resource book offers an educational framework for integration, tolerance, and cultural acceptance.
Choices in Little Rock [Choosing to Participate]
[Curriculum link: US Civil Rights Movement, grades 9 & 12]
Choices in Little Rock is a teaching unit that focuses on efforts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957–efforts that resulted in a crisis that historian Taylor Branch once described as “the most severe test of the Constitution since the Civil War.” The unit explores civic choices–the decisions people make as citizens in a democracy. Those decisions, both then and now, reveal that democracy is not a product but a work in progress, a work that is shaped in every generation by the choices that we make about ourselves and others. Although those choices may not seem important at the time, little by little, they define an individual, delineate a community, and ultimately distinguish a nation. The choices build on the work of earlier generations and leave legacies for those to come.
2. CLASS SETS
Warriors Don’t Cry [Choosing to Participate]
[Curriculum link: US Civil Rights Movement, grades 9 & 12]
by Melba Pattillo Beals (Pocket Books)
Following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education, Melba Pattillo became a warrior on the front lines of a civil rights firestorm. She was one of the so-called Little Rock Nine – nine students picked to be the first African American students to start off the gradual integration of schools, following the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. Warriors Don’t Cry is her compelling autobiographical account of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. This book explores not only the power of racism, but also such ideas as justice, identity, and choice.
The Bear That Wasn’t [Individual and Society]
by Frank Tashlin
(Dover Publications)
This short, illustrated book has been described as a modern fable. One day, a bear
awakens to find himself in the midst of civilization. Interpretations abound in this
excellent catalyst for discussion of the individual in society.
Fly Eagle Fly [Individual and Society]
by Christopher Gregorrowski
(Tafelberg Publishers)
This is a charming and innovative adaptation of an African tale attributed to a Ghanaian James Kwegyir Aggrey. The short illustrated book deals with the identities that are often forced upon us, and that massive human potential needs to be awakened in each of us trough recognising our true identity. Another catalyst for discussion of the individual in society.
3. STUDY GUIDES
Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement Studyguide
4. DVD’s
Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement
[Curriculum link: US Civil Rights Movement, grades 9 & 12] [Choosing to Participate]
14 episodes, 55 minutes each
Available on 14 videotapes or 7 DVDs / source: PBS Video
A comprehensive television documentary about the American civil rights movement, utilizing rare historical film and present-day interviews.
1. Awakenings (1954-1956)
focuses on the Mississippi lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till and the subsequent trial; Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott; the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and the entry of ordinary citizens and local leaders into the struggle for black freedom.
2. Fighting Back (1957-1962) traces the African
American community’s rejection of separate but equal” education, from the Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education decision to the efforts of the first black high school and college students to integrate white schools.
3. Ain’t Scared of Your Jails (1960-1961)
chronicles the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the participation of young people and college students in lunch counter sit-ins and Freedom Rides, as well as the civil rights movement’s influence on the 1960 presidential campaign.
The Armenian Genocide [Historical Case Study]
60 minutes
source: Two Cats Productions
During World War I, the Ottoman Turks carried out one of the largest genocides in the world’s history.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars affirms that the number of Armenian deaths was over one million. This film provides a historical overview of the Armenian Genocide and looks at its denial by Turkey that continues to this day.
Hotel Rwanda [Historical Case Study]
122 minutes
source: amazon.com
Based on true events, this feature film tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of a five-starhotel, who used his wits and words to save more than 1,200 lives during the 1994 Rwandan conflict.
Not in Our Town [Choosing to participate/case study]
25 minutes
source: The Working Group
This episode of the television program We Do the Work focuses on the citizens of Billings, Montana, in the US, were heroic in their efforts to combat rightwing hate activity in their town. Billings came to national attention in 1993 when antisemitic hate crimes during Chanukah were met by solidarity from the primarily non-Jewish community, who placed menorahs in their windows to show support.
for the targeted Jewish population. As other groups were targeted on the basis of race and sexual orientation, the community pulled together a broad coalition and slowly demonstrated to the Neo-Nazi groups that hate would not be tolerated in their town.
Not in Our Town II [Choosing to participate]
58 minutes
source: The Working Group
In this sequel to Not in Our Town, the Billings
story is briefly revisited, but the focus is on other communities across the U.S. who come together against hate crimes. Among the stories featured are the rebuilding effort after a South Carolina church was burned for racially motivated reasons; Kokomo, Indiana, which organized a unity rally as a counter to a planned KKK march; and Medford, Oregon, where the community and schools held meetings after a lesbian couple was murdered because of their sexual orientation. This film examines the importance and powerful impact of ordinary citizens participating in their communities.
5. VIDEOS
Amandla!
105 minutes
source: amazon.com
[Curriculum Link: Apartheid] [Choosing to participate]
This film tells the story of black South African freedom music and the central role it played in fighting apartheid. It specifically considers the music that sustained and galvanized blacks for more than 40 years, focusing on the struggle’s spiritual dimension named for the Xhosa word for “power.”
The Bad Samaritan
12 minutes
source: out of print
This segment of CBS’s 60 Minutes is an interview with David Cash. Cash admits to seeing his high school friend Jeremy Strohmeyer grab and begin to assault 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in the bathroom of a Las Vegas casino. Cash did nothing to stop Strohmeyer, and did not report him to any authority, keeping quiet for several days, even after Strohmeyer admitted to Iverson’s rape and murder. Cash still contends he did nothing wrong in not acting to help Iverson in any way. This piece is very effective with older students in raising issues of bystander behavior. Due to the graphic nature of the descriptions of the crime, this tape is not appropriate for middle school students.
Childhood Memories
57 minutes
source: Facing History and Ourselves
Through interviews with 11 Holocaust survivors
and witnesses, this montage examines what conditions were like for Jewish and non-Jewish children living in Nazi-occupied Europe before and during World War II. Part of the Elements of Time series.
The Eye of the Storm
27 minutes
source: Social Studies School Service
In 1970, Jane Elliott, a third grade teacher in a small Iowa town, divided her class into two groups for a lesson in discrimination–one group being superior to the other. While only a classroom “experiment,” the experience had a profound and lasting effect on the students. Issues of prejudice and victims and victimizers, as well as human behavior, are central to this video documentary.
Facing the Truth with Bill Moyers
120 minutes
source: Films for the Humanities & Sciences
Facing the Truth with Bill Moyers, produced by Gail Pellett and Public Affairs Television, is an extraordinary documentary about the efforts of South Africans to deal with their past–specifically the years of apartheid. The film focuses on the stories of some of the individuals who testified before the nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established in 1995 to investigate gross violations of human rights in South Africa and beyond its borders between 1960 and 1994. Because of its powerful content, the film is most appropriate for high school and/or college students. Facing History and Ourselves has developed a study guide to accompany this documentary.
Heil Hitler: Confessions of a Hitler Youth
30 minutes
source: out of print
In this in-depth interview, Alfons Heck recalls how he became a high-ranking member of the Hitler Youth. He talks about the importance of peer pressure and propaganda to Hitler’s ability to recruit
eight million German children to participate in the “war effort,” some as young as twelve participating in murder. The interview is supplemented by archival footage.
Long Night’s Journey into Day: South Africa’s
Search for Truth and Reconciliation
95 minutes
source: California Newsreel
Profiling four cases before South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the filmmakers explore the way in which one nation has chosen to heal from its violent past by telling and hearing the truth. Each case highlights different aspects of the TRC and explores a different moral question.
