"According to the United Nations, a genocide is a series of acts committed with the intention to destroy people of a specific race, religion, ethnicity. or nationality."

Students who have studied the Holocaust may be surprised to know that the Holocaust is not the only genocide. This is an opportunity to research other genocides and oppressed peoples throughout history. Start with this political cartoon regarding genocide. It can be used to create a timeline and also to teach students how to respond to Political Cartoons a a primary source document.

Activity:

• Teacher Models text reading of The Red Pencil

  • War p. 20-21

  • The Janjaweed p. 58-59

  • Happening p. 110-111

  • Author's Note: Finding Hope, first 6 paragraphs

• Teacher Models summary of Text The Red Pencil

• Students together read a picture book at their table and write summary together

• Students independently read about other genocides and human rights violations throughout history and write their own summary

• Group: Students discuss how children's literature can be used to teach children about genocide.

• Students conclude with how reading the fiction and nonfiction texts deepen their understanding of genocide and the Holocaust.

Timeline of Human Rights Violations and Genocides:

1450-1750 Gendercide: "The Witch Trials" from Gendercide Watch

1619 to 1863 Slavery in America

Bound for America : the forced migration of Africans to the New World by James Haskins and Kathleen Benson. Paintings by Floyd Cooper.

1830 Atrocities against Native Americans

Encounter by Jane Yolen

1915 Armenia, Ottoman Empire

"World War I and the Armenian Genocide" from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia

1933 - 1945 The Holocaust

The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse Illustrated by Wendy Watson

I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children's Drawings and Poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944 by Hana Volavkova (Editor)

The yellow star : the legend of King Christian X of Denmark Carmen Agra Deedy ; illustrated by Henri Srensen.

The butterfly by Patricia Polacco.

The Orphans of Normandy A True Story of World War II told through drawings by Children by Nancy Amis.

The Terrible Things by Eve Bunting

Willy & Max A Holocaust Story by Amy Littlesugar Illustrated by William Low

1942-1946 Japanese Internment (Human Rights Violation)

The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida

• Video Recording

Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki

• Video Recording (begins 3 minutes in)

"Japanese Internment." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: War, Gale, 2009. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3048500194/SUIC?u=long05507&sid=SUIC&xid=bda64806. Accessed 24 Jan. 2020.

1975 Cambodia: Khymer Rouge

Half spoon of rice : a survival story of the Cambodian genocide by Icy Smith Illustrated by Sopaul Nhem

"Khmer Rouge: Justice for the Victims." Youngzine, Dec 13, 2018. Available in Proquest

Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors compiled by Dith Pran

1991–1995: Wars of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia)

GLEAM AND GLOW By Eve Bunting. Illustrated by Peter Sylvada.

• Video Recording

"Bosnia" from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia

1994: Rwanda

Witness to Genocide: The Children of Rwanda: Drawings by Child Survivors of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 by Richard A. Salem (Editor), Hillary Rodham Clinton (Foreword)

"The Rwanda Genocide" from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia

2004: Darfur

The Red Pencil By Andrea Davis Pinkney, Illustrated by Shane Evans

The Darfur Genocide from The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia

2016: Iraq and Syria

"ISIS Committed Genocide Against Yazidis in Syria and Iraq, U.N. Panel Says" from New York Times

Students use this google.doc to record their answers:

• (Make a Copy)

Resources:

• Genocide Definition from The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

• Holocaust Encyclopedia Genocide Timeline from The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

• United to End Genocide

• Genocide in the 20th Century from The History Place

• Genocide Watch