Bringing Human Rights into the Classroom through Exploration of the Holocaust and Local Histories of Racial Injustice

Date: August 5-9, 2024

Location: Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C.

Photo: The Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

Educators interested in increasing their capacity to engage students in exploring human rights in their classrooms are invited to apply to this seminar, sponsored by TOLI and supported by partner organizations. Participants will explore the complexities of the Holocaust and the history of racial injustice, considering connections  between American Jim Crow laws and Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg laws and anti-Jewish policies as part of a larger framework of historic and contemporary antisemitism. Using inquiry and writing-based pedagogy, we will engage with texts and primary sources, including survivor testimonies, to gain insight into how resistance, remembrance, and reflection of tragic historical events can inspire change in today’s world.

Site visits include the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, ADL Headquarters, a local synagogue, and African American historical landmarks. Guest speakers include local Holocaust survivors and other notable community and academic leaders.

Teachers develop action plans to implement a Project-Based Learning unit in their classrooms focused on social justice issues explored in the seminar. By engaging with the stories of the past and present, the cohort will work together to critically analyze this painful past with an eye towards developing a pedagogy of hope.

Further details:

  • Books and materials provided
  • Meals: Breakfasts, lunches, some dinners
  • Professional development credit: 40 hours at no cost
  • Field experiences may include: US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Anti-Defamation League offices, area African American historic sites

Click here to view our flyer.

Thank you to the following sponsors and local partners:

  • Loudoun County Public Schools
  • Congregation Sha’are Shalom
  • JCRC of Greater Washington
  • NoVaChai