The Fight to Change Social Studies in Nebraska

It took almost 100 years to expand education curriculum in Oklahoma to make significantly expand teaching about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Although the social studies standards in Oklahoma are updated every six years, they are now paired with a social studies framework in 2020 to serve as a “living document.” The state is also providing updated resources for teachers to incorporate these lessons in their curriculum for third to 12th grade classrooms.

Meet A Jew is a volunteer organization in Germany helping combat anti-semitism and bigotry by educating students in elementary and secondary schools about Jewish culture and traditions of those living in Germany. The organization has about three hundred volunteers from a variety of different backgrounds, who then hold 90-minute sessions where students are welcomed to ask anything.

The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities has seen its six-year graduation rate for American Indian and Alaska Native students rise from 27 percent in 2008 to 69 percent in 2018, as well as an increase in the number of enrolled students who identify as native. The university credits this achievement to a number of academic and social programs designed to make native students feel welcome on campus, initiatives to increase empathy and understanding by teachers of issues facing native students, a summer institute for indigenous high school students, and more.

Contextualizing artistic representations creates more complex narratives and offers an opportunity to educate about historical memory. The Atlanta History Center has opened an exhibition that illuminates the absence of people of color in the “Battle of Atlanta” Cyclorama, an artwork that celebrates the 1864 Union victory. The museum presents the work alongside interactive guides and films that explain the erasure of African Americans from the memory of the scene.

Patrick Ball, cofounder of the nonprofit Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG), has helped use quantitative data to put numbers behind things that were before unprovable — i.e. the difference between genocide and random violence. Ball and HRDAG have analyzed existing data to come up with the "invisible" data, overlaying several sets of statistics with machine learning to come up with stats like the fact that you were eight times more likely to be killed by the army in the Ixil region in the early 1980s if you were indigenous. Ball also advises nine truth commissions, four UN commissions, and more.

Sectarian conflict in Bahrain has torn friends and families apart, splitting the country into Sunni versus Shi’a. To soften the divisions, Bahrain Foundation for Reconciliation and Civil Discourse has hosted at least one event every month since its founding in 2012, inviting people from all ideologies to participate. These events include dialogue dinners, seminars, and even exchange trips to Northern Ireland and South Africa to learn about reconciliation experiences in those countries.

Amid national attempts to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, tour leaders in Boston are making a concerted effort to highlight historical information about people from all backgrounds, from Indigenous history to important LGBTQ+ figures. One such tour, the Rainbow Revolutionaries tour, has been so popular that organizers have had to schedule additional sessions.

Red Rabbit provides nutritious, culturally diverse lunches to students at two local schools. The program promotes cross-cultural exchange among students by exposing them to different dishes from various cultures while ensuring they’re getting healthy meals that hit all the major food groups, as most students get the majority of their meals at school.

The Heartland Earthworks Conservancy finds and works to preserve ancient, Indigenous earthworks in Ohio. They use a device called a magnetometer to find electromagnetic remnants in the soil that reveal buried and disassembled structures like walls, ditches, and mounds.

To help and serve the large and growing Asian population in East Harlem, several organizations are emerging. One such is Asian Americans For Equality, which partnered with Union Settlement to start offering Asian food aid. The groups run a monthly food pantry that provides Asian produce and other groceries to those in need, ensuring the population is receiving culturally-relevant foods.