Deeper Than Our Skins: The Present Is a Conversation with the Past (Web Resource)
Title: Deeper Than Our Skins: The Present Is a Conversation with the Past
Author: Maria Sachiko Cecire
Abstract: "The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” Barack Obama used these words in 2008 to argue that we can only truly understand—and begin to overcome— the bitterness of modern race relations through a brave and accurate accounting of history. Obama’s line borrows from one that appears in a book by Southern author William Faulkner. In other words, he turned to literature as a source of wisdom about the difficult subject of race in America, and built on what he found there to imagine new pathways towards justice, healing, and unity. Similarly, the “Deeper Than Our Skins” theme is grounded in literature that can help us look beneath the surface of racism in America to reveal how the past is alive in the present. This theme uses powerful stories of oppression, resistance, suffering, and triumph to identify the roots of racialized experience in the United States, and to inspire discussions about how to construct more equitable futures for the people in our country and world.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.ala.org/tools/programming/greatstories/resources/skins
Primary URL Description: This page provides access to all materials needed to promote and implement a GSC reading and discussion series on the Deeper Than Our Skins theme.

Finding Your Voice: Speaking Truth to Power (Web Resource)
Title: Finding Your Voice: Speaking Truth to Power
Author: Susana M. Morris
Abstract: The old adage goes “children should be seen and not heard.” That conventional wisdom implies that speaking up and out is the exclusive realm of adults. It also suggests that children and young people don’t have important things to say — that they should stay out of adult conversation. The truth is that young people have been vital to making change by speaking and showing up in the face of adversity. Take Joan of Arc, for example. In 1429, while just 18 years old, she led a French army to the besieged city of Orléans in a victory over the English. But we don’t have to go back to 15th-century France to find young heroes. On November 14, 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first African American child to integrate a white Southern elementary school. Her mother and U.S. marshals had to escort young Ruby to class because of violent mobs in her hometown of New Orleans. Bridges was born the same year that Brown v. Board of Education made “separate but equal” public spaces illegal, and her bravery was a milestone in the Civil Rights movement. There are countless examples of young people speaking out and taking a stand against injustice.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.ala.org/tools/programming/greatstories/resources/voice
Primary URL Description: This page provides access to all materials needed to promote and implement a GSC reading and discussion series on the Finding Your Voice theme.

Call for Proposals (FYV and DTOS grants) (Blog Post)
Title: Call for Proposals (FYV and DTOS grants)
Author: PPO Staff
Abstract: Blog post promoting open applications for Great Stories Club grant.
Date: 01/18/2023
Primary URL: https://programminglibrarian.org/articles/apply-now-great-stories-club
Primary URL Description: Blog post promoting open applications for Great Stories Club grant.

Permalink: https://apps.neh.gov/publicquery/products.aspx?gn=GG-285480-22