SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities recently announced 13 Major Grant Award winners for 2011, including the Genocide Education (GenEd) Project. The almost-$9,000 award supports the creation of a teaching kit and training workshops—focusing on Armenian Genocide survivors who sought asylum in Rhode Island—for secondary school teachers.
The Genocide Education Project is working with its volunteer-based Rhode Island branch, led by Pauline Getzoyan and Esther Kalagian, to create and promote the materials with project director Sara Cohan, who serves as the education director for the Genocide Education Project.
“I’m very encouraged that the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities has affirmed with this award that the history of the Armenian Genocide should be included in public school curricula,” Getzoyan said.
The new curriculum, titled “A Journey from Despair to Hope: The Story of the Armenian Americans of Rhode Island,” will highlight the life of Margaret Garabedian Der Manuelian, the grandmother of Getzoyan. Der Manuelian was an Armenian Genocide survivor who moved to Rhode Island in 1928. The curriculum will also trace Der Manuelian’s family through three generations in Rhode Island. The teaching kit will include a video, primary documents, and educational guides. To introduce the materials to teachers, the team will host two one-day workshops in Rhode Island in 2011.
Kalagian and Getzoyan have made significant strides in reaching out to Rhode Island educators over the past few years. They have created an awards program for educators and organized projects to spark interest in teaching about the Armenian Genocide. “I feel that this grant awarded by the Council for the Humanities validates all our previous work in Rhode Island,” said Kalagian.
The award was announced just days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to decline hearing the Griswold vs. Driscoll case against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In so doing, the Supreme Court upheld the U.S. Court of Appeals decision that Massachusetts has the authority to bar genocide denial sources from being included in its curriculum on the Armenian Genocide. The Genocide Education Project supported the State of Massachusetts in this case by signing an amicus brief on behalf of the State.
The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and private sources.
The Genocide Education Project is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization that assists educators in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional materials, providing access to teaching resources and organizing educational workshops.
For more information, visit www.genocideeducation.org.
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