Project Coordination

PBS Learning Media "brings the world to your classroom," through a collection of free, state and nationwide standard-aligned discussion topics, lesson plans, and additional resources made accessible to teachers across the country.  After the premiere of the documentary Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America in October 2020, Steeplechase Films teamed up with classroom teacher, writer, humanitarian, and social activist Vivett Dukes, to develop lesson plans to accompany short clips that summarize major themes from the film including resisting the Jim Crow status quo, the growing pains of progress, highway development, and importance of mobility as a human right. 

Supported by CityLore and The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience,  Race, Space & Mobility in America is a national public engagement and educational outreach initiative intended to foster and enhance public awareness, civic dialogue, and historical understanding issues of race, space, and mobility. 

Facilitators Sarah Pharaon of Diologic Consulting & Dina Bailey of Mountain Top Vision in collaboration with the team at Steeplechase Films, created the toolkit and educational materials. The framework is based on dialogue programs and educational resources developed by The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. For eighteen years, project partner, ICSC has helped museums and historic sites become dynamic centers for community engagement through personalized training solutions and resources grounded in the work of thought leaders, educators, and human rights advocates. 

The film Driving While Black: Race, Space & Mobility in America relies on archival images and footage from libraries and archives across the nation, to illustrate life during the era of segregation and the progress of the Civil Rights Movement. South Side Home Movie Project, The Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History, and the Amistad Research Center have incredible and ever-growing collections & community initiatives to encourage digitization of family archives. Looking to preserve your personal collection? Check out local libraries and archives for digitization projects in your area! 

Listen to Everyone, a Humanities New York grant-funded project from 2017, culminated in the production of a user-friendly conversation-based community program guide. Utilizing clips from The Cooperstown Graduate Program's rich Community Stories archive of over six decades of oral history collection, my colleague Kate Webber and I created prototypes, tested, and developed a framework to spark meaningful conversations with loved ones. Many, many thanks to the wonderful residents, staff, especially Director Barb Sullivan at Woodside Hall for welcoming us with open arms & open minds. 

To conclude the project, we had the opportunity to organize & lead multiple workshops with students, community members, and caretakers in Cooperstown, NY, sharing our observations, successes, and reflections. 

A cross-generational labor of love collecting memories, stories, and photographs from days past for my grandma Nancy. Storyworth provides a list of prompt questions and an easy-to-use website to record your collection (they even take care of the dreaded table of contents for you) -- with the ability to create beautifully bound books to share. 

Go hang out with your grandparents.