"Dublin Core:Title","Dublin Core:Subject","Dublin Core:Description","Dublin Core:Creator","Dublin Core:Source","Dublin Core:Publisher","Dublin Core:Date","Dublin Core:Contributor","Dublin Core:Rights","Dublin Core:Relation","Dublin Core:Format","Dublin Core:Language","Dublin Core:Type","Dublin Core:Identifier","Dublin Core:Coverage","Item Type Metadata:Text","Item Type Metadata:Interviewer","Item Type Metadata:Interviewee","Item Type Metadata:Location","Item Type Metadata:Transcription","Item Type Metadata:Local URL","Item Type Metadata:Original Format","Item Type Metadata:Physical Dimensions","Item Type Metadata:Duration","Item Type Metadata:Compression","Item Type Metadata:Producer","Item Type Metadata:Director","Item Type Metadata:Bit Rate/Frequency","Item Type Metadata:Time Summary","Item Type Metadata:Email Body","Item Type Metadata:Subject Line","Item Type Metadata:From","Item Type Metadata:To","Item Type Metadata:CC","Item Type Metadata:BCC","Item Type Metadata:Number of Attachments","Item Type Metadata:Standards","Item Type Metadata:Objectives","Item Type Metadata:Materials","Item Type Metadata:Lesson Plan Text","Item Type Metadata:URL","Item Type Metadata:Event Type","Item Type Metadata:Participants","Item Type Metadata:Birth Date","Item Type Metadata:Birthplace","Item Type Metadata:Death Date","Item Type Metadata:Occupation","Item Type Metadata:Biographical Text","Item Type Metadata:Bibliography","Item Type Metadata:Player","Item Type Metadata:Imported Thumbnail","Item Type Metadata:Referrer",tags,file,itemType,collection,public,featured "One Ship Connects Generations",,"On the morning of March 17, 2008, I called my grandmother as I was getting ready to board the Queen Mary. I remember telling her - ""I am next to your ship!"" I sent photos to my mom to share with her and she was looking at them while we were still on the phone. My grandmother couldn't believe that she was looking at ""her ship"" again. That is when my humanities moment happened. In that moment, grandmother and granddaughter were connected in a way that they hadn't been before. Minutes later, I stepped on board for the tour, standing on the ship my grandmother immigrated to the United States on. My grandmother immigrated to the United States from Port Glasgow, Scotland in the early 1950s. She has shared many of her own memories with me over the course of my lifetime, and some she has kept close to her heart. I remember learning about Ellis Island when I was in elementary school, coming home and asking her about her experience coming to America. Ellis Island was closed as an immigrant processing station, so she had no memories of that, but she always talked about the ship she came here on - RMS Queen Mary. The ship was built in her hometown of Port Glasgow. Both her father and grandfather worked on it, her father as an electrician and her grandfather as a carpenter. It was christened in 1934, a month after she was born and 21 years later, it was the ship she sailed to America on- a one-way ticket in hand. The Queen Mary is currently used as a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. Having had the opportunity to explore the ship, I was able to connect with my ancestors. Not only my grandmother who set sail on it, but also her father and grandfather, people I would never know, but who felt part of me as I encountered their work. While there, I also learned about the role that the RMS Queen Mary played in shuttling troops across the Atlantic during World War II. This is all part of my history and one of the most significant humanities moments that I have experienced. ",,"RMS Queen Mary ",,2008,"Kathleen Stankiewicz, 39, High School History Teacher",,,,,,one-ship-connects-generations,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Professional Development","Family,Family History,Immigration,Scotland",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/4/510/640px-Stiarway_in_the_Queen_Mary.jpg,Text,Educators,1,0 "Finding My Long-Lost Grandmother",,"In 2013, as a new college student, I started exploring genealogy. I learned to use the research skills that I developed from college history class to explore primary sources documents on my own. I reached out to extended family members, made new email contacts, and asked questions. I looked at courthouse records, newspaper clippings, and church records to not only determine where my ancestors are buried, but who their immediate family members are. I decided that I would make a genealogy book for my dad’s Christmas present, and I included him in the process. I loved when I could convince my Daddy to spend his Saturdays walking around cemeteries, locating relatives. It is this process of researching and investigating that led me to the discovery of my 5 times great-grandmother, Hannah Parker. Hannah was born around 1735. During the late eighteenth century, she left Northern Ireland for America with her husband and children. They eventually settled in what is present-day Grayson County, Virginia. When my 5 times great-grandfather, John, passed away, Hannah moved with her son and her daughter-in-law to Deep Creek in Yadkin County, North Carolina. Hannah died in 1806 and is buried at Deep Creek Friends Meeting. My father and I walked row by row, looking at heading stones dating back centuries. Then, just like that, we found her. The stone reads, “H.A. Parker.” Obviously, Hannah Parker lived centuries before I was born, so I never knew her. Yet, suddenly I felt so connected to her because I realized that if she had not left her home and crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a ship, I would not be here today. Finding my long-lost grandmother. That’s my humanities moment. Knowing who she was made me want to know more about the circumstances under which she lived, the time of the American Revolution, colonial-era beliefs about women in society and the church, the layout of the surrounding counties, and the people she may have encountered. I began asking hard questions and contextualizing the time in which she lived. There are gaps in historical documentation, and I am aware that I will never learn everything about Hannah Parker. Even so, it is this desire to learn more about the time in which she lived that led me to my Master’s thesis work on women healers in colonial America. That project then led to the dissertation work on intercultural medical practice in the early American south that I do in my PhD program today. A lot of people and different experiences influenced the path that led me to become a historian. Yet, this humanities moment of finding Hannah’s grave is different from the rest because for the first time, I realized the fruits of my labor. It took 7 months to finish that genealogy book for my father’s Christmas present. Because of this experience, when I now encounter names in census records, wills, and church records, I see them not as names and dates but as people. I have become invested in revealing the silences of their stories. Such instances make one very aware of one’s place in the world and the importance of uncovering the truth about what happened in the past, revealing people’s struggles, failures, and successes, and even understanding how people and events are influenced centuries later. We are all more connected to the past than we realize. ",,,,2013,"Jewel Parker, Age 27, Ph.D. candidate in History, University of North Carolina at Greensboro",,,,,,finding-long-lost-grandmother,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"National Humanities Center Graduate Student Summer Residency Program","Family Histories,Family Trees,Genealogy,Historical Markers,Immigration,Research",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/462/HM_Cemetery_Image.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0 "Don’t Buy Into A Single Story ",,"I encourage everyone to watch novelist Chimamanda Adichie’s 2009 TED talk “The Danger of A Single Story.” Adichie uses her personal experiences to illustrate the importance of sharing different stories about people. She warns of the consequences of a single story and how it can rob people of their dignity, create stereotypes, and make difficult the recognition of our equal humanity. Adichie’s talk made me ponder current events and how many American politicians and leaders are attempting to create a single story about immigrants and others. One, in particular, is the group of Central American migrants fleeing danger and desperate situations for a new life in America. The president and others are painting them as criminals who are trying to invade the country. This is dangerous. It’s a seemingly hateful attempt to fan the flames of division and stoke the fears of his supporters. Adichie says, “show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” She continues “power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.” Imagine if the first story told about this group of migrants was that many are mothers and fathers who desire safety and security for their families. Doing so would change the narrative entirely. To insist on only negative stories, those in power are attempting to dehumanize migrants and encourage Americans to believe that migrants are in no way similar to them. These views are extremely dangerous and can result in violence against an entire group of people. I hope Adichie’s talk will encourage more people to not buy into a single story told about others. And in doing so, recognize that all people are informed and shaped by many stories. This is needed always, but especially in current times. ","Chimamanda Adichie, author of Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, and other works","“The Danger of the Single Story,” a TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie",,2018,"Olympia Friday, Digital Engagement and Marketing Coordinator, National Humanities Center",,,,,,dont-buy-into-a-single-story,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Borderlands,Diversity,Human Rights,Immigration,Migration,Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda,Public Speaking,Stereotypes,Storytelling,TED Talks",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/242/Chimamanda_Adichie.png,"Moving Image",,1,0 "Writing is My Activism",,"
Luis Rodriguez, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in 2014, explains how his love for books and libraries rescued him from a life of trouble. He notes that through books, he discovered more about people and their lives, which encouraged his interest in writing about injustice and activism.
To celebrate its 40th year anniversary of grant making, programming, and partnerships that connect Californians to each other, California Humanities invited a group of 40 prominent Californians to explore what the humanities mean to them. For more information visit California Humanities: We Are the Humanities.
",,,"California Humanities",,"Luis Rodriguez, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in 2014","Standard YouTube License",,,,,luis-rodriguez-writing-activism,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Activism,Books & Reading,Gangs,Immigration,Juvenile Delinquency,Libraries,Literature,Los Angeles, California,Mexico,Multiculturalism,Oral History,Poetry,Poets Laureate,Social Justice,Storytelling,Vocation,Writing",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/5/54/LA_Public_Library.jpg,"Moving Image","California Humanities: “We Are the Humanities”",1,0 "Placing Our Family in the Story of America",,"Actor John Cho shares how the humanities reveal answers to the most important questions in life. He notes his fondness of reading and how, during his childhood, the Little House on the Prairie books helped him process and understand his family’s place in America.
To celebrate its 40th year anniversary of grant making, programming, and partnerships that connect Californians to each other, California Humanities invited a group of 40 prominent Californians to explore what the humanities mean to them. For more information visit California Humanities: We Are the Humanities.
",,"Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder","California Humanities",,"John Cho, actor","Standard YouTube License",,,,,john-cho-little-house-on-the-prairie,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Actors,Books & Reading,Children's Literature,Empathy,Families,Immigration,Literature,Little House on the Prairie,United States History,Wilder, Laura Ingalls",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/5/51/statue_of_liberty-800.jpg,"Moving Image","California Humanities: “We Are the Humanities”",1,0