Envisioning a Collaborative Future through the Lens of Intertwining Histories: Teaching Holocaust and Black History in KY

Date: June 23-27, 2025

Location: Berea, Kentucky

Envisioning a Collaborative Future offers an inquiry and writing-based seminar inviting educators to draw connections among histories that continue to impact the present to envision a collaborative future.  Led by local, experienced educators, participants will work together to strengthen the teaching of these histories in KY through an interdisciplinary lens.

Participants will:

  • Collaborate with colleagues dedicated to resisting antisemitism and racism in our classrooms within today’s landscape
  • Gain experience, content, and materials to teach about the Holocaust and Black History in Kentucky with confidence.
  • Explore interconnections between Jewish and Black history
  • Strengthen the teaching of Jewish and Black histories in KY
  • Plan for a culturally inclusive and trauma-informed classroom culture
  • Visit a local Jewish synagogue for Shabbat dinner and services
  • Experience reflective writing as a way to process complex information

In partnership with The University of Kentucky – Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative, The Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky, Carter G. Woodson Center at Berea College, and Temple Adath Israel in Lexington.

 

Leaders

  • Lauren Hill

    Lauren Hill (NBCT) serves as Associate Director of the University of Kentucky – Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Initiative, which supports Kentucky teachers in meeting the mandate for effective Holocaust education. A retired middle and high school teacher, she has taught in a correctional setting, served as an instructional coach, and worked as the Teacher Leadership Coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Education. Lauren directs Classroom Teachers Enacting Positive Solutions (CTEPS), which provides coaching and action research-based learning to emerging teacher leaders. Lauren graduated from Barnard College with a BA in History, Vanderbilt University with an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Supervision, and The University of Kentucky with a Rank 1 in English Education. Lauren focuses on elevating teachers as experts and leaders who facilitate deeper learning for their students.

  • Wendy Zagray Warren

    Wendy Zagray Warren directs the Forestry Outreach Center at Berea College and has been an interdisciplinary educator for over thirty years, working with kindergartners through graduate students. Through her association with TOLI, Wendy has been a Holocaust educator for over a decade. As a writer and educator for social and environmental justice, Wendy’s work has been published in journals and anthologies including Becoming a Holocaust Educator and What Does it Mean to be White in America? Her book, An Illusion of Equity: The Legacy of Eugenics in Today’s Education was released in 2023.