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Humanizing History™ is a resource for educators and families who want to talk to kids about race, culture, and our inspiring collective story.
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Join us for a workshop on July 21-23, 2025 in Boston, MA! Monique Vogelsang of Humanizing History, and Mike Matthews of Authentic Education, will be hosting a workshop for educators. To learn more and to register, click here.
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Few things are as important as how we tell the human story — the version we tell ourselves, how we view others, and especially the one we teach to children.
Far too many of us have been taught limited versions of World and U.S. history. Essential stories have been erased. But we can change that. We can expand the ways we frame the historical narrative. We can name people who contributed to and changed our world. And for those we cannot name, we can trace their fingerprints and footprints to better understand how the past informs our present, and how we too can impact our future.
Welcome to Humanizing History
Ida B. Wells, Truth Seeker, Truth Teller
Humanizing Classrooms, Our What, Why & How
Who was Mitochondrial Eve? And No, She’s Not Lucy
Shining a Light on Earth & Safeguarding Our Planet
How Curiosity Can Help Us Name and Reframe, An Expansive Approach to Teaching Slavery
Field Trip: Angel Island, The “Ellis Island” of the West?
Reframing Squanto and Thanksgiving
The Danger of a Single Story and How We Benefit From Many Lenses
Dr. Cobb vs. The Bone Collectors Who Invented Pseudoscientific Racism
Who’s on the Page? Picture Books as Windows and Mirrors
Race is Not Biologically Real, But It Is Socially Powerful: The Impact of Pseudoscientific Racism
A Different Timeline for Corn
Harriet Tubman, The “Ultimate Outdoors-Person”
Migration is a Human Experience, A Brief History of Our Global Diaspora
How Laws Around Immigration and Migration Impact Belonging
What Is History? What We Lose With Erasure
Field Trip: Cahokia
Humanizing Classrooms, Where the Work Begins
“Why Is There a Black History Month?”
How to Talk to Kids About Race and Culture
The Skin We Live in Is a Beautiful Thing
Corky Lee, Expanding the Lens One Photograph at a Time
The Human Story Begins in Africa
Field Trip: Blombos Cave and the World’s “Oldest Doodle”
Would You Risk Your Life for a Book? Timbuktu Manuscripts
The Powerful Social and Legal Construction of Race
How to Talk to Kids About Dr. King
Reading Matters & How to Navigate the Current Climate
“Civilization” Does Not Equal “More Civilized”
Banner image credit: Cihak and Zima, Horatio Seymour Squyer, Jay Godwin, Warren K. Leffler, Library of Congress, Alex Lozupone, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.