YaleNews Showcases the Fortunoff Archive’s Curriculum

On November 14, 2022, YaleNews published an article highlighting the new digital curriculum published by the Fortunoff Archive. In the article, Michael Cummings interviewed the archive’s curriculum development fellow Aya Marczyk and New Haven-area teacher Leslie Blatteau, where they discussed their work in creating "Race and Citizenship in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow US," their goals in educating students with the curriculum, and how teachers can use it in the classroom. The article also explores the curriculum itself and how it combines testimony with other historical sources, both primary and secondary.

The curriculum, developed for high school students and modifiable for middle school students, focuses on historical inquiry and close, empathetic listening using testimonies from the collection. Lessons and activities incorporate elements of the Fortunoff Archive’s interview method and scholarly approaches to testimony to help students work with this complex historical source. "Race and Citizenship in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow US" uses the testimonies of Leon Bass, Martin Schiller, and John Weil to explore this topic and examine the value and limits of historical comparisons.

Read the YaleNews article here: https://news.yale.edu/2022/11/14/open-source-fortunoff-holocaust-curriculum-builds-bridge-local-schools. You can learn more about our curriculum on our website here: https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/curriculum/.