The mission of Own Your History® (OYH) is to educate and empower citizens committed to achieving the Promise of America for all.
WHAT WE DO
OYH offers inclusive U.S. History resources, curricula & workshops. We prepare students & adults of all backgrounds to become better-informed participants in advancing our nation’s unfinished business of achieving a more equitable society.
Here is a brief OYH introductory video:
what we believe
We teach the American story, with its successes & failures. Our focus ranges from freedmen subject to Jim Crow, to poor Whites in the “Other America.” It is history we all need to know, but denied by many.
Historical awareness can motivate citizens to work for constructive change. Americans need to more effectively address the destructive impact of discrimination.
We must also respond to the displacement of citizens negatively affected by technology & globalization.
Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
MLK at 1963 March on Washington
OWNING Our HISTORY MATTERS
Americans need to embrace and celebrate historic principles of equality and justice. Confronting authoritarianism is part of our national DNA. As a diverse society, we have successfully assimilated millions seeking a better life. Our ongoing challenge is to shape the country we want for ourselves and our descendants.
We have frequently struggled with the gap between democratic ideals and economic & social inequality. Our history reflects patterns of deprivation based on differences in color, gender, ethnicity, religion, economic status, or LGBTQ identity.
Core PRinciples
America’s central values are revolutionary. President Washington wrote, “[T]he United States . . . gives to bigotry no sanction . . . [and] requires only that. . . [we act] as good citizens. . .” (Letter to the Hebrew congregation of Newport, RI, August 21, 1790).
President Lincoln at Gettysburg asked us to be “dedicated to [the] unfinished work” and called for a “rebirth of freedom.” In the 1930s, President Roosevelt spoke of a nation where one-third were “ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”
A hundred years after Lincoln, Dr. King underscored that the Declaration of Independence promise remained unfulfilled.
Washington, Lincoln, FDR, & King knew we have not always lived up to our ideals. Fairness and justice continue to be elusive goals.
Women suffragists picketing the White House, 1917
Americans need reconciliation
Reconciliation is necessary to bring the country together. Accurate history education is critical. Americans who embrace our complex history and share historical understanding can more candidly acknowledge the nation’s imperfections and work together.
WWII Japanese-American internment camp, Manzanar Relocation Center, California, 1942. Outbursts of hostility & violence directed at Asian Americans continue to cause harm today.
CURRENT CHALLENGES
In recent years, we have struggled with the undeniable facts of discrimination and uneven economic opportunities. Communities of color, as well as many working-class Whites, feel like second-class citizens. The 2020 elections and their aftermath reinforced our divisions.
Progress is now more challenging than ever.
In the 1960s, demonstrations and Great Society programs produced historic, but incomplete, improvements. Systemic reforms require Americans of all backgrounds to be committed to the pursuit of equality and justice.
Lewis Hines, Breaker Boys, 1906: preteen & early teen coal mine workers in Pennsylvania.
John Lewis leading marchers on Edmund Pettus Bridge. Selma, AL, March 1965.
Impact of “Owning your history”
Own Your History® addresses embedded discrimination & injustice based on color, gender, ethnicity, religion, working class status, LGBTQ identity and other differences. We nurture aware citizens dedicated to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness for all.
We cannot change America's past. However, we can “own” it by seeing it more honestly and rejecting distortion of historical facts.
Teaching leadership
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955
OYH fosters leadership by encouraging creativity & empowerment.
Our experiential learning approach puts students in the shoes of earlier Americans. This helps prepare them to make wiser choices when faced with complex realities.