The We Are America Project
From a class project in 2019, my former students and I launched the national We Are America Project, which mentors teachers and works with students to share students’ personal stories of American history and identity. So far, we have collaborated with ~50 teachers in more than 25 U.S. states, who work with more than 1500 students — helping the next generation share their histories. The stories are published in books in their community and on our website library.
The project traces back to 2016, when I co-created with a then-student a seminar on American Diversity, exploring key moments in the fight for equity and justice. In 2018, I realized that to understand the nation’s history, it was important to make it personal. History classes often center on analyzing actions of large-scale transformations and broad trends in society. But, history is also the collection of millions of individual stories and experiences.
My students set out to understand how laws and movements intertwined with their families’ histories. They began claiming movements, marches and policies as part of their own histories. And, as they listened to each other’s stories, they learned to empathize with one another.
My students wrote and published two books—We Are America, and a sequel, We Are America Too. “It was also a relief to finally share my story,” one student reflected. Another remarked, “It felt important to share. My story has to be known.”
The students went on to speak on radio, to newspaper reporters, and to audiences at nearby universities. Believing the work needed to grow, we launched the national We Are America Project. We have partnered with three national non-profits: Facing History and Ourselves, Re-Imagining Migration, and New York’s Tenement Museum.
We hope to help spark community conversations about identity and to create space for each young person to claim publicly their American identity and their place in our country’s history and our future.
