Teaching, learning, listening, and reflecting–this is just a snapshot of the work humanities councils are doing this month and all year long. Indiana Humanities’ spotlight series Humanities Heroes celebrated Lisa Laker, a high school English teacher who brings exceptional creativity, ingenuity, and passion to her classroom. There’s something special to making history come alive in the present–New Jersey Council for the Humanities embraced that idea in their Community History Showcase, a cumulative public project that balanced research with reflections and community contributions. Down the coastline at Delaware Humanities, the Bowers Heritage Festival brought archaeological and historical societies, early craftsmen, authors, and musicians together to share their skills and teach others about the area’s unique maritime history. There’s also a lot to learn when we reflect together on history. Dr. Riché Richardson did just that in a conversation with the Idaho Humanities Council on the life, activism, and continuing impact of Rosa Parks–someone whose legacy informs Richardson’s own early community service work and life path as an artist and professor in African American literature in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University.
