Facing History and Ourselves

Democracy at Risk

2017

$250,000 over two years

Facing History and Ourselves is the leading educational organization empowering students across the United States to confront bigotry by teaching them what it means to be an “upstander”—rather than a bystander—to history. Forty years into this work, FHAO is updating its curriculum to meet the needs of educators navigating modern-day issues ranging from the normalization of hate to freedom of the press. This renewal grant from RPF will enable the organization to help more than 100,000 educators address stereotyping, hate speech, and questions of intersectionality, identity, and group membership in their classrooms. FHAO will also produce and disseminate rapid response resources tied to lessons on the Holocaust, human behavior, and the fragility of democracy—all tools to help students explore the complexities of the past, make connections to current events, and consider how they personally can make a difference today.