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We're saddened by the news of yet another classroom lesson on slavery involving a troubling simulation—but we're not surprised. Our research has shown some common pitfalls when teaching and learning about slavery. In this edition of The Moment, we explain why mock auctions—along with simulations of the Middle Passage—do more harm than good, and we provide resources for teaching this history more effectively.

The Fourth of July is a quintessentially American holiday, but the celebrated right to liberty has never applied to every American. These resources can help you consider how July 4th fits into the complex relationship between the United States and its citizens of color and how you can bring this history and an important message to your diverse classrooms: There is no template for Americanness, and there never should have been.

After recent news and photographs from El Paso—of asylum-seeking families held in chain-link, barbed-wire pens—your immigrant students may be feeling afraid, and you may feel unsure how to support them. These resources recommend steps you can take inside and outside your classroom to address injustice and insist on the human dignity of all people, no matter where they're born.

This week, the power of words is illustrated in two celebrations: the beginning of National Poetry Month and Maya Angelou's birthday. Angelou's life, words and activism offer a unique opportunity to show students how writing is shaped by identity and experience, and the power words can bring. These resources can help you make that introduction and inspire the poets, thinkers and activists in your school—so their words, too, can sing.

We join you in mourning those lost to violence this weekend. Like many of you, we’re feeling angry, exhausted and heartbroken. We take some solace in offering these resources for supporting your students and communities and for doing what you can to fight hate before it turns violent. After losses like these, we know we must move forward. But we refuse to move on.

So much has happened this year, so we want to acknowledge our new Teaching Tolerance community members. We have compiled some of our favorite resources for educators as we work together to achieve more equitable schools. Whether you’ve been with us for a while or you’re brand new to TT, welcome! We appreciate you and all you do.

Voter suppression is not a thing of the past. It’s essential that students learn to identify it in history—and in this current election cycle. Including insight from Carol Anderson, John Lewis and others, these resources can help you teach about the Voting Rights Act, the historic back-and-forth fight for voting rights, the ways voter suppression manifests today and the ways young people are demanding better of the democratic process.

Black History Month begins February 1! And while we know anti-racist educators teach Black history year-round, we hope these resources will help you consider how you're framing the month this particular year. Learn more about the need for—and history behind—Black History Month and get support for teaching Black history in a way that moves beyond trauma and embraces liberation and resistance.