The 2019-2020 UUA Common Read
Going beyond the story of America as a country “discovered” by a few brave men in the “New World,” Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity.
The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include discussion topics, archival images, original maps, recommendations for further reading, and other materials to encourage students, teachers, and general readers to think critically about their own place in history. The concluding chapter is a case study on the Standing Rock resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) that was not included in the original academic text.
About the Series:
The ReVisioning American History for Young People series offers fresh perspectives on familiar narratives told from the viewpoint of marginalized communities with middle-grade and young adults in mind. Consisting of accessibly written history books written by notable scholars and adapted by education experts, the series reconstructs and reinterprets America’s past from pre–1492 to the present for a new generation of readers.
Gail Forsyth-Vail from the Faith Development office has created a discussion guide that helps groups and congregation delve together into the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual challenges of seeing their nation’s history through an unfamiliar and painful lens. It is hoped that discussion groups will find the capacity and the encouragement to take follow-on action afterward. The guide provides plans for a single session or a series of three.Click here for the discussion guide.