ONLINE TEACHING RESOURCES-GENOCIDE
Here, educators will find links to genocide curricula already in existence. There are some fabulous lesson plans available and we recommend PBS as a wonderful starting point, regardless of grade level. Most of these resources are for upper elementary through high school level, but many of these ideas can be adapted to all grade levels. If you find any one of these online resources particularly helpful, or have another suggestion, please let us know.
PBS Guide to Teaching Genocide
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/thismonth/genocide/index1.html
PBS Teachers is PBS' national web destination for high-quality preK-12 educational resources. Here you'll find classroom materials suitable for a wide range of subjects and grade levels. We provide thousands of lesson plans, teaching activities, on-demand video assets, and interactive games and simulations. These resources are correlated to state and national educational standards and are tied to PBS' award-winning on-air and online programming like NOVA, Nature, Cyberchase, Between the Lions and more.
This site offers four different teaching guides for separate age groups from grade 3 to grade 12. Guide includes text suggestions and many online resources.
Facing History and Ourselves
Founded in 1976, Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and professional development nonprofit organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical development of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives.
There are some absolutely fantastic lesson plans here. Just type in genocide in the webpage’s search box and you’ll have a ton of great material to check out.
Human Rights and Genocide:
Case Study of the First Modern Genocide of the 20th Century
http://www.teachgenocide.com/lessonplans/index.htm
This comprehensive teacher's manual focuses on the Armenian Genocide of 1915 during which 1.5 million Armenians, half of the Armenian population, were systematically annihilated. It includes a 1-day, 2-day, and 10-day unit with all the materials teachers will need, including more than two dozen overheads, interactive classroom exercises and more. Discussions include a wide range of topics related to the Armenian Genocide: the history of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, primary source documents, witness and survivor memoirs, maps and political-economic timelines, and the problem of denial. The lessons also consider the links between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, and capture other major human rights violations such as the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Rape of Nanking, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides.
The Genocide Teaching Project
http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/rwanda/lesson.cfm
The Project provides resources to teach about the legal concept of genocide in high schools, including a discussion of the Genocide Convention (1948), a brief overview of genocides that have taken place throughout history, and the types of behavior and actions, which may lead to genocide. Our two lesson plans include a 90-minute lesson on the genocide in Rwanda and a 45-minute lesson on the current violence in Darfur, Sudan. After the students learn about these two crises, the lessons conclude by having the students identify actions they can take - both as individuals and as a group - to impact the situation in Sudan and to ensure that genocide does not happen again.
Teach Against Genocide:
The State-by-State Campaign for Genocide Education
http://www.teachagainstgenocide.org/
Teach Against Genocide (TAG) works to ensure that every student learns about mass atrocities and what they can do to prevent and stop them. We lobby local school boards and state legislatures to make human rights and genocide education a part of the school curriculum and to provide teacher trainings and materials.
This site provides a fairly comprehensive list of all educational resources regarding the teaching of genocide. We at One Million Bones suggest taking a look at the state of genocide education in general in order to understand the greater need for our project.
Films
Documentary Films
Blessed is the Match: The Story of Hannah Senesh (2008)
http://www.blessedisthematch.com/
Narrated by Joan Allen, Blessed Is the Match is the first documentary feature about Hannah Senesh, the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a paratrooper, resistance fighter and modern-day Joan of Arc. Safe in Palestine in 1944, Hannah joined a mission to rescue Jews in her native Hungary. Shockingly, it was the only military rescue mission for Jews during the Holocaust. Hannah parachuted behind enemy lines, was captured, tortured and ultimately executed by the Nazis.
A free 30-page Study Guide for middle and high school students, and created by Facing History and Ourselves, is now available: www.facinghistory.org/resources/publications/blessed-is-the-match
The Devil Came on Horseback (2007)
http://www.thedevilcameonhorseback.com/
Brian Steidle was quite surprised to find himself an advocate for social and political change--when his personal point of view about the world of international politics was transformed by his serving as an observer for the African Union in the Sudan. For six months, he watched the Sudanese Arab-controlled government actively engage in an ongoing systematic genocide against black citizens living in the country’s Darfur region. He decided he had to do something to save hundreds of thousands of innocent people from slaughter.
Disarm. (2008)
Disarm. is an in depth study and status report about a crucial worldwide humanitarian effort, one which can, with the commitment of all governments, be realized. It involves the total ban of the manufacture, trade, stockpiling and deployment of all landmines, and the removal and destruction of all landmines that are still buried in fields and forests around the globe. These weapons of mass destruction cripple entire populations one man, woman or child at a time.
Genocide (1981)
Genocide tells the story of millions of men, women and children who were slaughtered in Hitler's “Final Solution”. Genocide won the 1981 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
My Neighbor, My Killer (2008)
http://www.gacacafilms.com/mnmk/
The 1994 genocide of Tutsis by Hutus left Rwanda physically and psychically bereft and unable to function. The Gacaca Law mandated Tutsis and Hutus to reconcile--to forgive and move on with the rebuilding of the nation. Anne Aghion spent more than nine years chronicling the peace process to produce this brilliant documentary that brings us to a new level of understanding about the human capacity for creating mutuality.
Paper Clips (2004)
http://www.paperclipsmovie.com/
PAPER CLIPS is the moving and inspiring documentary film that captures how students in Tennessee responded to lessons about the Holocaust-with a promise to honor every lost soul by collecting one paper clip for each individual exterminated by the Nazis. Despite the fact that they had previously been unaware of and unfamiliar with the Holocaust, their dedication was absolute. Their plan was simple but profound. The amazing result, a memorial railcar filled with 11 million paper clips (representing 6 million Jews and 5 million gypsies, homosexuals and other victims of the Holocaust) which stands permanently in their schoolyard, is an unforgettable lesson of how a committed group of children and educators can change the world one classroom at a time.
"Screamers" (2006)
http://www.screamersmovie.com/
"Screamers" was directed by Armenian-American Carla Garapedian with the help of the band System of a Down. This film does not focus on one particular incident of genocide but attempts to look at the deeper questions behind its causes. In one segment, it explores the Armenian Genocide - the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire - and why it is so actively denied in Turkey. "Screamers" also inspects the genocides in Darfur and Rwanda.
Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire (2004)
http://www.whitepinepictures.com/dallairesite/
This 2004 documentary is based on a book of the same name by now-retired Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire, commander of the United Nations forces that served in Rwanda during the 1993-94 genocide. Dallaire implored the UN for more troops but was ultimately denied. However, his actions are credited for saving approximately 20,000 lives. The film was nominated for two documentary awards during the Sundance Film Festival.
Steal a Pencil for Me (2007)
A compelling documentary feature film by Academy Award® nominee Michèle Ohayon, this piece presents a story about the power of love and the ability of humankind to rise above unimaginable suffering.
Hollywood Films
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
http://www.unitedartists.com/hotelrwanda/main.html
Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.
Schindler’s List (1993)
This seven-time Academy Award winning film, directed by Stephen Spielberg, dramatizes the efforts of Oskar Schindler who saved the lives of over a thousand Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust of World War II. The website below provides still images of the actual list, as well as shots of “The Girl in Red” from the film:
http://www.emilieschindler.com/Schindler/index.htm
Shooting Dogs (2005)
In April 1994, after the airplane of the Hutu President of Rwanda is shot down, the Hutu militias slaughter the Tutsi population. In the Ecole Technique Officielle, the Catholic priest Christopher and the idealistic English teacher Joe Connor lodge two thousand and five hundred Rwandans refugees, under the protection of the Belgian UN force and under siege by Hutu militia. When the Tutsi refugees are abandoned by the UN, they are murdered by the extremist militia.
Sometimes in April (2005)
http://www.hbo.com/films/sometimesinapril/
One nation, decimated by ethnic rage. Two brothers, divided by marriage and fate. Idris Elba and Academy Award nominee Debra Winger star in Sometimes in April, a gripping drama inspired by true events surrounding one of history's darkest chapters: the 100 days of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Online Multi-Media
In addition to the use of film in the classroom, multi-media provides the instructor with a way of visually engaging students with a subject matter, often in a shorter space of time.
TEDTalks
TED is an organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Today, TED boasts over 450 TEDTalks on a variety of subjects intended to “change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.”
Director/Founder of One Million Bones, Naomi Natale was just this year selected as a TED Senior Fellow. You can check out her bio here: http://www.ted.com/fellows/view/id/58
Complicated Hero
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/samantha_power_on_a_complicated_hero.html
Samantha Power tells a story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello. This UN diplomat walked a thin moral line, negotiating with the world's worst dictators to help their people survive crisis. It's a compelling story told with a fiery passion. Samantha Power studies US foreign policy, especially as it relates to war and human rights. Her books take on the world's worst problems: genocide, civil war and brutal dictatorships.
Psychology of Evil
http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html
Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people to turn bad. In this talk, he shares insights and graphic unseen photos from the Abu Ghraib trials. Then he talks about the flip side: how easy it is to be a hero, and how we can rise to the challenge. Philip Zimbardo knows what evil looks like. After serving as an expert witness during the Abu Ghraib trials, he wrote The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. From Nazi comic books to the tactics of used-car salesmen, he explores a wealth of sources in trying to explain the psychology of evil.
Humanity and Poetry
http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_abani_muses_on_humanity.html
Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me. Chris Abani's first novel, published when he was 16, was Masters of the Board, a political thriller about a foiled Nigerian coup. The story was convincing enough that the Nigerian government threw him in jail for inciting a coincidentally timed real-life coup. Imprisoned and tortured twice more, he channeled the experience into searing poetry.
YouTube Videos
While YouTube videos may not be of the same caliber and quality as documentary, they are great ways to get a discussion going in the classroom. It’s also appropriate to use YouTube Videos in order to talk about visual argument, rhetorical considerations, and audience. Students may also be encouraged to think about how they might create their own videos—and if they do, let us know. We’d love to link them to our website—in the Teaching Showcase, as well as here on the Online Multi-Media Resource Page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeC6S6bDTXI
Created @ Emory Universtiy in 2006 as part of Campus MovieFest, the world's largest student film festival. Sudan: The Silent Genocide documents the destruction of life in the Darfur region of Sudan as well as the lack of a notable response by the American public. The film, instead of entrenching itself in the atrocities currently underway in Darfur, decides to focuses on what the average American can do to help stop the genocide. Through photographs and interviews, the documentary encourages the audience not to make their silence a part of U.S. History.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7us3yxGa4E
I wanted to let everyone know what is going on in the world...and give them information, so they could know what they could do to help. All images were found off of Google Image search.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMBZpGRF4tg
Personal account of an American witness to genocide in Darfur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SI8RF6wDE
Photographs of Cambodian Genocide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dchqJ7bhCBA
After the Holocaust, world leaders proclaimed, "Never Again!" Then: Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and now Darfur, where more than 400,000 have been killed. Join the first permanent anti-genocide movement at www.GenocideIntervention.net.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJedvAEfHeQ
Armenian Genocide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Few4FDDxo
Rwandan Genocide