Vision
What does an inclusive and culturally responsive history education look like?
In New York City, most public school students are not white and yet most public school students are learning predominantly white stories. How many students are hearing complex and accurate stories about LGBTQ+ history or about the history of disabled/differently-abled people, among so many other groups that go overlooked? How many students learn about how our city is and has been impacted by climate change? How many learn about how the subways and bridges were built or about the people who risked their lives to build them?
Far too often, history texts and curricula do not reflect learners. In an interconnected world, however, it is dangerous to tell narrow and simplistic stories.
This study is a reflection of a human need to be seen, heard, and understood. In my continual quest for individual and collective wholeness, I search for ways to fight against a system that values control, capital, individualism and denies us our freedom to be all of ourselves. To be whole is to be and know all of yourself. When we are able to avoid shame and denial, which breed disconnect, then we come closer to integrating as people and communities. Although wholeness is wellness, this does not mean it’s not painful. Wholeness is painful because it requires truth-telling and growth. Our objective is to see and know ourselves within American history and, in particular, New York City history.
In a larger way, we are creating a new model for learning any history. The way in which our team learns and shares undertold New York histories will inform educators and students on how they can engage in inclusive and culturally responsive history for their own learning communities.
— Dominique Paloma Bible (She/They)
Lead Researcher
Founder & Educator at Off Da Beaten Path Learning
(Pictured to the left: Brooklyn Bridge, 1898, Brooklyn Bridge, with a view of New York City, 1898. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)