Choosing to Participate is a poster exhibition created by Facing History and Ourselves and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service to encourage dialogue, engagement, respect, and participation in our communities.
The Wright Memorial Public Library presents Choosing to Participate as a part of its Vision to enrich minds and transform lives; its Mission to provide diverse opportunities for lifelong personal growth; and its Values of empathy and community.
Let Choosing to Participate be the beginning of your learning. Attend a related program, download for free the official poster exhibition book from Facing History and Ourselves, explore Smithsonian Learning Lab collections, and check out the Youth Services Librarians' recommended reads.
Programs
- For children: Children Make a Difference Cosplay Event
- For adults: Let's Talk: Barriers to Voting, with League of Women Voters
- For all: Exercise your participation muscles by voting in Wright Library's Favorite Fairy Tale Characters Bracket!
Smithsonian Learning Lab Collections
- What Will You Stand For? from the National Museum of American History
- Native American Resistance & Activism, Then & Now from the National Museum of American History
- Martin Luther King Jr.: The Later Years (1965-1968) from the National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Portraying Global Citizenship from the National Portrait Gallery
- Well Done, Sister Suffragette! from Ellen Rogers, elementary school teacher
- Votes for Women from Rita Blair, middle school teacher
- LGBT Rights & History from Kate Harris, high school teacher
Recommended Reads
- Preschool - 2nd Grade
- 3rd - 6th Grade
- Teens: Making a Change in the World and in Your Life
- Teens: Fiction About Understanding Each Other Better
- Teens: Nonfiction to Dialogue, Respect, Engage & Participate
- Adults: Antiracist Reading List
Additional Resources from the Smithsonian
- As part of the National Museum of the American Indian's development of the Americans exhibition, they worked with the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience to create a toolkit to help people facilitate new conversations with and among students about the power of images and words, the challenges of memory, and the relationship between personal and national values.
- The National Museum of African American History and Culture have created a website, Talking About Race, to provide tools and guidance to empower your journey and inspire conversation.
- Asian Pacific American Center's Standing Together Against Xenophobia addresses not only the hatred and violence that has recently targeted people of Asian descent, but also the xenophobia that plagues our society during times of national crisis.