2023 Day of Learning: Teaching about Genocide

Presenter: Branda Anderson, Holocaust Center for Humanity

The presentation will explore best practices for teaching about genocide in the secondary classroom. 

Presenter: Emmanuel Turaturanye

Emmanuel was just 16 years old when, beginning April 7, 1994, approximately 1 million people, including over 100 members of Emmanuel's family, were murdered in just 100 days in Rwanda.  All the while, the world community not only stood by and watched, but UN and other forces withdrew, leaving so many defenseless in the face of genocide.

Presenter: Brian Crawford, The Downtown School: A Lakeside School

This session will explore the role that teachers played in the polarization that led up to the Rwandan genocide.

Presenter: Loung Ung, Cambodian Genocide Survivor

Loung Ung is a bestselling author, public speaker, activist, and co-screenplay writer of First They Killed My Father, a critically acclaimed 2017 movie directed by Angelina Jolie, based on her memoir streaming on Netflix. Loung  was five years old when the Khmer Rouge army stormed into her city in April 1975, forcing her family to flee their home. For the next four years, the family hid their identities in order to survive. Without the protection of her family, Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.

Presenters Kate Weckesser English and Kim Klett

This session will give educators the tools to teach the history and complexities of the genocide in Cambodia, using examples from testimonies and photo analysis.