Commemorating Women's History Month with IWitness
For Women’s History Month, bring the unique voices of women who survived or stood up against some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century into your classroom. Facing History is partnering with USC Shoah Foundation to help educators access more than 1,500 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust and other genocides using the Institute’s online learning tool, IWitness.
These women’s stories of perseverance, justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation will inspire teachers and students alike to think about their own place in society and how the past connects with the moral choices they face today. Discover four clips of testimony from IWitness to share with your students.
Women's History Month through IWitness
Valerie Nyirarudodo on forgiveness
Valerie Nyirarudodo says she has forgiven the perpetrators of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda who have asked for it, and encourages others to follow the same path.
Helen Fagin on Education in the Ghetto
Language: English
Helen Fagin discusses her efforts and risk to educate fellow ghetto inhabitants in the Radomsko ghetto in Poland.
Guixiang Chen on peace
Language: Mandarin
Nanjing Massacre survivor Guixiang Chen reflects on speaking to Japanese students about her experience and the students react to her testimony.
Elizabeth Holtzman on passing legislation expelling Nazis
Language: English
Former United States Representative Elizabeth Holtzman describes her experience on writing and passing legislation in 1978 to expel the Nazi war criminals who, to her surprise, had immigrated to the United States.
Valerie Nyirarudodo on forgiveness
Language: Kinyarwanda
Valerie Nyirarudodo says she has forgiven the perpetrators of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda who have asked for it, and encourages others to follow the same path.
Integrating testimony-based education with digital literacy skills brings a different and unique perspective to studying history. We often tend study the past from a bird’s eye view. These personal narratives provide students the opportunity to understand the impact that historical events have on individuals, communities, and society as a whole.
What are some of your favorite tools or videos for celebrating Women’s History Month? Share them – and the stories of the women that inspire you – with us.
Orignally Published on Facing History and Ourselves Blog
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