The United States has long been a destination for people in need from around the world. This toolkit opens up a space for conversation about the impact of immigration on a person’s sense of place and identity.

This toolkit uses a poem by former US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey to explore how memory and culture can influence our understanding of race in American society.

Framed around the Declaration of Sentiments, a document from the Seneca Falls Convention that enumerated the rights owed to American women, this conversation helps participants explore the historical importance and contemporary relevance of the struggle for women’s suffrage in the US.

This toolkit features a brief essay by James Baldwin and a photograph taken during the Hurricane Katrina crisis to open space for conversations about what obligations, if any, people owe each other in times of crisis.

Humanities NY is proud to announce our newest Community Conversation Toolkit, “Madame and the Census Man: Assessing Identity in Today’s America.” Built around a poem by the legendary Langston Hughes, this conversation prompts participants to think through what it means to be “counted” in our society and how the importance of participating in the census project sometimes sits in tension with a person’s personal sense of identity.

Although we have all experienced the education system, our experiences of that system vary dramatically. This conversation invites an exploration of the tensions and difficulties students face in the classroom and how academic achievement can sometimes be compromised by classroom social dynamics.

Explore how New Yorkers and people everywhere were transformed and interconnected in the aftermath of 9/11.

When Superstorm Sandy struck on October 29, 2012, it unleashed catastrophic damage up and down the East Coast. In its wake, New Yorkers came together to clean up, help out, and rebuild. This conversation reflects on how communities were transformed and united by Sandy, and to consider what it means to be fully restored.

This conversation centers around the ways in which New Yorkers were early and passionate stewards of the environment and how we continue to grapple with finding a responsible balance between using and protecting our natural resources.

Reflect on Dr. King’s legacy of service and its meaning in today’s world. What are ways of serving in your community? How has protest transformed since the days of MLK?