Chicago
Since the Chicago office opened in 1990, more than 3,000 local educators have participated in Facing History's professional development programs. These teachers annually reach over 300,000 middle and high school students in over 725 public, religious, and independent schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Our training enables students to deepen their knowledge of history, their understanding of the origins of hatred and violence, and their ability to relate history to their own lives. A strong alliance with Chicago Public Schools and growing partnerships with suburban, religious, and charter schools enables us to have critical and significant impact.
Download our Regional Profile [pdf]
Changing School Culture
“I have been in a number of classrooms and I can tell you I’ve seen students sleeping; I’ve seen students totally disengaged and in some cases acting out; but I can tell you I have never been into a Facing History classroom where that has been the case. The children are meaningfully engaged. They are trying to deeply understand the challenges and that’s an experience that we really want to see in more of our classrooms across the city.”
Barbara Eason-Watkins, former Chief Education Officer at the Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Stories
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The year was 2009 and the headlines read like something out of a tabloid. A multiethnic, Midwestern former Miss America finalist was arrested while working in Iran as a journalist and was being held in the country’s worst prison.Evin prison - many...
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Cheryl Watkins is the principal of an innovative public middle school in Chicago and winner of a Milken Family Foundation Educator Impact Award.Speaking at Facing History and Ourselves annual benefit, Cheryl says her school is inspired by a simple...
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After taking a Facing History and Ourselves course at her Chicago public school, fourteen-year-old Baylee found she was able to open new conversations within her own family, discovering the influence of both the Holocaust and the Jim Crow era of...
Chicago Videos
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“Even If You are Only One Voice”: Roxana Saberi |
Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist who was held captive for 100 days in Iran in 2009, reads a passage from her book Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran. She explains how knowing that friends and family were speaking out for her gave her the strength to carry on when she was imprisoned. Even if you are only one voice, she tells the audience at an Allstate Community Conversation hosted by Facing History and Ourselves, you can make a difference in other people’s lives. |
Oct 19 2011 |
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"Use Your Freedoms": Roxana Saberi |
Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist who was held captive for 100 days in Iran in 2009, urges students to appreciate their freedoms by using them to help other people. Saberi, author of Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran, spoke with the Facing History and Ourselves Student Leadership Team in Chicago. |
Oct 19 2011 |
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Baylee C.: "Speaking About Silence" |
For Baylee C., an 8th grader at John J. Pershing West Middle School in Chicago, a Facing History and Ourselves class awakened the realization of how important it is not to be silent. One of her great-grandfathers was an African American soldier in World War II who came home to the segregated South, but no one discussed how much it hurt to live under Jim Crow laws. One of her grandmothers had to flee Nazi Germany with her family because they were Jews, but her grandmother never spoke with her about the Holocaust, or how it felt when people in Germany stayed silent while their neighbors were stripped of their rights. Hearing from Holocaust survivors and learning about the civil rights movement in her Facing History class, Baylee now understands how important it is to communicate, and now she knows how to ask questions. She wants to break the silence. |
Apr 26 2011 |
Participating Schools
Facing History and Ourselves is actively used in history, literature, interdisciplinary, government, and specially designed Facing History electives. In addition to being incorporated into K-12 schools, Facing History is also taught in colleges and universities. Our program associates work with educators to help them use these materials in the most appropriate ways.
View the full list of schools
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Location
Facing History Chicago
200 East Randolph Street Suite 2100
Chicago, 60601United States
312-726-4500
