Living the Legacy: A Jewish Social Justice Education Project

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Heather Booth playing guitar for Fannie Lou Hamer during the Freedom Summer Project in Mississippi, 1964. (Credit: © Wallace Roberts 1964.)

Living the Legacy (LTL), a new online curriculum by the Jewish Women's Archive, brings to life the rich and deep history of Jewish Americans' activism through the stories of both women and men. The first module of LTL explores the role of Jews in the Civil Rights Movement and is now available at no cost at jwa.org/teach/livingthelegacy. A second module, focusing on Jews and the Labor Movement, is under development.

The curriculum guides educators in teaching about Jews and social justice movements through the use of primary sources, such as letters, articles, oral histories, photographs, fiction, and organizational records. The curriculum also models a gender inclusive history, giving both women's and men's stories their rightful place in the history of American Jews and social justice.

Living the Legacy is aimed at educators working with 8th-12th grade students in a variety of formal and informal settings (including supplementary schools, day schools, service learning projects, and retreats). Designed to be extremely flexible, educators can use the curriculum in its entirety or select a few lessons or units to integrate into their teaching. Potential uses of the curriculum include programs commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, youth group service learning projects, and education programs on Passover and liberation, in addition to uses for enriching existing history and values courses, and/or adding elective courses on civil rights, labor, or social justice.

While there are many strong curricula and programs that explore the roots of Jewish commitment to social justice and tikkun olam, these resources do not offer an in-depth look at the history that today's teens inherit. The Living the Legacy curriculum fills this gap, providing lesson plans that expose students to many different voices from the Civil Rights and Labor Movements, allow students to move beyond a simple "feel-good" narrative into one with deep complexities, and encourage students to draw connections to their own lives.

The Living the Legacy civil rights module was the focus of JWA's Summer 2011 Institute for Educators. Applications for the Summer 2012 Institute will be available in January 2012.

For more information about Living the Legacy, email Judith Rosenbaum.

Authors: Judith Rosenbaum, Director of Public History; Emily Scheinberg, Assistant Director for Educational Outreach; and Julia Phillips Berger, Curriculum Consultant

Web Production: Isaac Simon Hodes

Living the Legacy: A Jewish Social Justice Education Project was made possible in part by funds granted by the Covenant Foundation.The statements made and the view expressed, however, are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Support for the Living the Legacy Institute for Educators is provided by the Dorot Foundation.