4. Communicating the Value of Inclusive History

04/20/22 • 42 min

Many people–particularly those from dominant groups–tend to treat history centered on white men as the “neutral,” depoliticized history. Everything else is considered extra or optional, and our attempts to tell a fuller story of American history are often met with backlash. In this episode, we explore a research-backed framework for engaging audiences in inclusive history (without the backsplash) through specific, place-based, solutions-focused examples. Our guests on this episode are Niya Bates, Susan Ferentinos, and Estevan Rael-Galvez.

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3. Making Progress Towards Justice

The public widely recognizes the necessity of learning from the past. But there’s a catch. For most people, the meaning of "learning from society’s mistakes” is inseparable from their diagnosis of society today. So in this episode, we discuss one solution to this challenge laid out in the Making History Matter report: “Emphasize how history helps us make progress toward a just world to increase recognition of history’s importance.” To explore the ideas of hard history and learning from the past, we are joined by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries and Heather Bruegl.

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5. The New Civics

Like history, the term civics has been pulled into recent political debates. So in this episode, we’re examining the role history museums and organizations can play in the new civics. How can we help our communities find meaning, a sense of belonging, and the tools they need to make their world a better place? To help answer that question, we’re joined by Eric Liu, CEO of Citizen University; Melanie Adams, Director of the Anacostia Community Museum; and Caroline Klibanoff, Managing Director of Made By Us.