History Alive!
History Alive! intergenerational projects are inspired by the first-hand experiences of elders in some of the 20th century’s great historic events and movements for social change. The goal is to help students see the human face of history and recognize that they too are part of its continuous making and shaping. ESTA began History Alive! at the height of US engagement in Iraq by conducting a pilot program on the experience of war, selected because of its obvious and sad relevance to the lives of young men. It is a commonplace that young men from poorer urban neighborhoods are targeted by military recruiters who necessarily present an idealized, one dimensional picture: a picture abstracted from the lived experiences of real soldiers who report a complexity of thoughts and emotions when asked to reminisce about their experiences in World War II, Korea, or Vietnam. Partnering with Black Veterans for Social Justice, ESTA facilitated the sharing of some of these veterans’ firsthand accounts with high school youth at Paul Robeson High School in the Bedford Stuyvesant/Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Story sharing led to dramatic enactments by students presented to the community at large. One student reflected, “Wars were just something to memorize before; now they matter to me.”
