About Choosing to Participate

Choosing to Participate is a multifaceted educational and civic initiative that challenges us to think deeply about what democracy means and what it asks of each of us.

Created by Facing History and Ourselves [1], Choosing to Participate focuses on civic choices—the decisions people make about themselves and others in their community, nation, and world. The choices people make, both large and small, may not seem important at the time, but little by little they shape us as individuals and responsible global citizens.

This initiative includes a traveling multimedia exhibition, public events series, and website that allow participants to explore the exhibition online and access a wide array of resources.  These elements encourage people to consider the responsibilities of citizenship and inspire them to make a positive difference.

Choosing to Participate creates opportunities for students, teachers, families, and community members to come together in conversation around complicated questions of prejudice and injustice and to identify ways to transform their communities.

Exhibition Overview

[2]The centerpiece of this initiative is a multimedia exhibition that will visit five cities around the country between 2009 and 2013, and opens in D.C. [3] January 2011. Visitors to the exhibition will tour a series of multimedia installations about individuals and groups from contemporary American history who confront prejudice and injustice.

These stories illustrate the courage, initiative, and compassion needed to protect democracy and human rights and challenge visitors to consider connections to stories in their own lives and around the world:

• Little Things are Big [4] tells of a decision made by a Puerto Rican man when, late one night, he encountered a white mother in need of assistance on the New York subway in the 1950s.
• Crisis in Little Rock [5] describes the way people in the community responded to the integration of Central High School in 1957.
• Not in Our Town [6] examines how citizens in Billings, Montana, came together to combat a series of hate crimes in 1993.  
• Everyone Has a Story [7] depicts the challenges faced by a young Cambodian refugee and people in his community as he struggled to build a new life in rural New Hampshire.