This writer and LGBT advocate spoke to a group of middle school students about being gender fluid. The next day, an unforgettable email showed them the power of open and honest dialogue.
On a recent field trip, I found Nashley and Bersabeh in a quiet corner of the library, sharing both a chair and a book. For an English teacher, this scene is pure gold: two ninth-graders, becoming friends, in the library, reading a book. I snapped a photo before squealing my delight. Then, I crouched down next to them to find out more about what they were reading.
Today, the White House and Justice Department potentially closed a door on some of the United States’ most vital and courageous individuals. As educators, this is not an issue we can ignore.
This toolkit suggests ways to use primary sources to help students uncover the realities of segregation and how it was deliberately perpetuated in the United States.
Debra Ginsberg is a professional freelance writer and editor, book reviewer, workshop leader and contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered. She is the author of the award-winning and bestselling memoirs: Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress; Raising Blaze: A Mother and Son’s Long, Strange Journey Into Autism; and About My Sisters. She is also the author of the novels Blind Submission, The Grift (a New York Times Notable and SCIBA Mystery Award winner), The Neighbors Are Watching and What the Heart Remembers (a SCIBA Mystery Award winner). You can reach Ginsberg via her website.
The connections between past and present intersecting movements in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Civil Rights Memorial Center educate and inspire individuals to continue the fight for justice.