The New Americans Museum (NAM) in San Diego, CA has embraced a critical responsibility in American history and culture: promoting understanding and interaction between immigrants and native-born Americans. In the era of Trump, this is no easy feat. Shortly after the 2016 election, the museum was vandalized with anti-immigrant graffiti declaring, “Too much [...]
Photo: Oscar Ramos (right) with his student José, whose parents are migrant farm workers. Photo from PBS documentary East of Salinas, 2015. Oscar Ramos is a teacher at Sherwood Elementary School in East Salinas, California. His story appears in VOW's Chasing the Harvest: Migrant Workers in California Agriculture. Oscar's students are often [...]
Photo: UCSF Memory and Aging Center "These are topics that we don’t often explore in the context of traditional medicine." PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: Jennifer Merrilees Jennifer is a clinical nurse specialist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC), where she works with dementia patients and caregivers. Voice of Witness is currently [...]
Sandy Amos (left) and his student at June Jordan School for Equity "I wanted to be the sort of teacher that I didn't have growing up." TEACHER SPOTLIGHT: Sandy Amos Sandy teaches literature at June Jordan School for Equity, a public high school in San Francisco, California. "Growing up in Washington DC, [...]
Danielle Covington (left). Janae Harris and Danielle Covington perform Voices from the Storm at Oakland Technical High School in 2015 (right, photo Jay Yamada) "This was a turning point in my life." STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Danielle Covington Danielle discovered her passion for socially engaged theatre in high school, while adapting the VOW book Voices [...]
We're constantly inspired by the amazing oral history projects created by the students and teachers we work with. One of the most dynamic projects we've seen this year is Voices from the Storm. Students from Oakland Technical High School's student company, OakTechRep, created this theatrical production after reading our book Voices from the Storm: The People of New Orleans on [...]
