Armenian National Committee of Greater Washington
Washington AYF “Ani” Chapter
4906 Flint Drive
Bethesda, MD 20816
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2004
Contact: Arsineh Khachikian
Email: [email protected]
AYF/ANC Educate over 1,000 Educators about the Armenian Genocide
at National Social Studies Conference in Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD- Armenian National Committee and Armenian Youth
Federation activists once again spoke with over a thousand social
studies teachers and handed out over hundreds of educational
packets about the Armenian Genocide at the 84th National Council for
the Social Studies (NCSS) annual conference held at the Baltimore,
MD Convention Center on November 20 & 21.
During the two-day conference, teachers attended a variety of
educational panels and workshops. The conference and exhibit show
attracting over 4000 NCSS members, making it one of the largest
social studies conferences across the nation. Members of the
Greater Washington, DC ANC and AYF as well as the Chicago AYF were
among the 300 exhibitors present at the trade show. For the second
time in as many years, the ANC/AYF participation was made possible
through a generous grant by the Armenian Youth Foundation.
The ANC/AYF booth at the exhibit primarily focused on educating
history teachers about the Armenian Genocide and informing them of
the available resources to help them include this vital topic in
their lesson plans. Over 1000 teachers avidly approached the booth
gathering materials including a folder with information about the
Armenian Genocide provided by Richard Kloian, Director of the
Armenian Genocide Resource Center (AGRC). Several teachers engaged
in conversation with ANC, AYF and history teachers helping with the
booth asking a variety of questions including where to get
additional materials, maps and books about the Armenian Genocide.
Others simply asked what more they can do to help stop the denial
and several teachers commented that they were happy to see the
Armenian Genocide has not been forgotten.
Making the conference a huge success was a postcard campaign
encouraging teachers to log onto TeachGenocide.org, a website
created by ANC of San Francisco as part of its Genocide Education
Project. The website, created specifically for teachers, allows
them to download teaching guides, maps, videos and primary
documents related to the Armenian Genocide as well as the
comprehensive 190-page lesson plans created specifically for public
schools by the ANC-SF and sponsored by the San Francisco Unified
School District.
Also on the website, is information about Facing History and
Ourselves new resource guide: Crimes Against Humanity and
Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians. This new resource
book gives teachers the opportunity to help their students
understand the dilemmas as well as failure of the international
community to protect Armenians and to later prosecute the
criminals. Furthermore instructional posters on the Armenian
Genocide are now available for viewing and free download on the
site.
The booth was eye-catching with enlarged documents of New York
Times articles from 1915, pictures from Armin T. Wegner’s
collections of genocide victims and maps showing the routes of
deportation and areas in present day Turkey where most Armenians
perished between the years 1915-23. The booth also had a
continuous video playing of various genocide films including Peter
Jennings April 1999 segment on the Armenian Genocide, PBS
documentary on the Armenian Genocide from the Great War Series, and
the BBC Broadcast Armenia: The Betrayed. The booth also had a sign
up sheet asking teachers to tally their state they teach the
Armenian Genocide. Over 30 states were marked including such
states as Alabama, North Carolina and even Hawaii.
Founded in 1921, the NCSS has grown to be the largest association
in the country-devoted entirely to social studies education. The
NCSS engages and supports “educators in strengthening and
advocating social studies.”
This year’s theme of the conference was “Democracy and Diversity:
Social Studies in Action.” The conference focused on “democracy in
a culturally diverse United States, highlight efforts by groups and
individuals to establish and promote democracy in other parts of
the world, and draw attention to the tragedies that seem to be part
of the human experience as peoples across the globe attempt to find
niches that offer peace, freedom, and opportunity to improve their
circumstances in the world.”
AYF/ANC activist Karine Birazian commented on the impact of the
weekend as follows: “This is the second year that we were
exhibitors at the NCSS conference and once again it was a huge
success. Many teachers from all over the United States and Canada
approached the booth, taking information about the Armenian
Genocide as well as signing up sheets to receive additional
information. It was such a great feeling to know that we were
making a difference. We were giving them to tools they need to
incorporate the Armenian Genocide in their classrooms. We are
looking forward to attending the conference in Kansas City next
year as well as even having an educational panel about the Armenian
Genocide.
Ronald Levitsky a board member of NCSS as well as a social studies
teacher at Sunset Ridge School in Northfield, IL actively promotes
genocide awareness at his campus. Levitsky states: “Who today
still speaks of the massacre of the Armenians?” Hitler’s infamous
words uttered in 1939 helped to justify the genocide he was already
perpetrating on the Jews. Yet, with the horrors of Cambodia,
Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Darfur, will students learn only that
genocide is inevitable? Samantha Power, author of A Problem From
Hell, speaks of “upstanders” — those few individuals who,
throughout history, fight against genocide. Educators need to
teach about the Armenian Genocide so that, through awareness and
the strengthening of moral conviction, our students will become
“upstanders” and the words “Never again,” can finally become a
reality.”
In closing, AYF Washington Ani Chapter chairwoman Tsoghig
Margossian noted that “overall, this weekend was a huge success in
that our efforts to promote genocide awareness were spread amongst
educators across the country. None of this would have been possible
without the help of Richard Kloian from the Armenian Genocide
Resource Center who supplied us with information made available to
the teachers. We would also like to thank Raffi Momjian and the
members from the ANC of San Francisco who supplied us with the
curriculum materials, as well as the ANC Eastern Regional
headquarters for their invaluable support, and the local members of
the Armenian community of Washington, DC. Finally a special thanks
to the Armenian Youth Foundation, without whose generous grant,
participation at this conference would not have been possible. We
look forward to working with all these activists and organizations
in the future to attend similar conferences and to expand our
genocide awareness efforts.”
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