This summer I will be working at an organization called Facing History and Ourselves, which is a large non-profit with offices in the US, UK, and Canada that was founded in 1976. It is an educational organization that works in many schools around the world. They believe education is one of the best ways to help combat intolerance. Students examine examples through history of “racism, prejudice, and anti-Semintism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry” (facinghistory.org).
I have always been interested in exploring situations that may cause prejudice ideals and ways to prevent them, but in 2011 I started to learn more about it through my own family’s history. I began a research project on my family’s escape from the Holocaust and it soon became an important part of my life to explore other horrible cases of injustice in hopes to stop future ones. This, is when I came across Facing History. Every year Facing History holds seminars that enable educators to teach material in specific ways allowing students to become more involved and analyze issues of our past and present. I connected with Facing History and feel it has a wonderful mission and agree that education is a great way to impede injustice.
The Thursday before my internship started I decided to take the bus to where I would be working just so I could see where the offices are. I had a large feeling that I would get lost and showing up panicked and sweaty on my first day at Facing History was not the most appealing offer.
Surprise! After getting lost for about 45min, in which, I later found out was a giant circle… I finally found 11 Belgrave Road. There is a Belgrave street, a Belgrave place, and a Belgrave square and combined with my not-so-exceptional sense of direction and map reading skills, finding the office proved to be a difficult task. My Belgrave turned out to be about a 5 minute walk from the bus/tube station located on a beautiful street. I wrote the instructions down and awaited my start date.
Tuesday, June 10th arrived and I made my way easily to 11 Belgrave Road. I was very nervous, but just like the New York City Facing History offices (where I interned last year) the people were extremely kind, knowledgable, and excited. I discussed what I would be doing with my supervisors and got straight to work. In the past few days I have began researching information on the LGBTQIA movement in the UK, anti-racism charities, and educational grants. I am very excited to continue my research in these fields and can not wait to get more involved with this great cause.