CCSS23 attendees are invited to screen the award-winning documentary, Gina’s Journey on Friday, February 25 at 7 pm followed by a discussion with Regina Mason about the AIM initiative, how it can be used in the classroom, and how students can participate in the competition component.
With over 15-years experience as a speaker on the power of reclaimed history as it relates to identity and place in the American narrative, Regina Mason shares her personal journey to recover her past. As founder of the educational initiative America is Me (AIM), Regina explores American history through the voice of her ancestor, William Grimes, who wrote the first fugitive slave narrative in American history.
AIM is a curriculum-based initiative that follows the framework of California Standards in History and Social Science at fifth grade level through high school and is anchored in the film Gina’s Journey, the Search for William Grimes. The film follows the curiosity of Gina, a 5 th grader, and her lifelong journey to authenticate a story told to her in childhood about an ancestor named “Grimes” who was involved in the Underground Railroad. While the film exposes hard truths about U.S. history such as slavery and the contradiction of freedom and equality, it also invites students to think critically about their own family story, how it has contributed to the American mosaic, and what we lose when stories are marginalized, censored, hidden, or lost.
Developed to inspire critical thinking and analysis; inclusion and empathy through a series of inquiry tasks, archival research, and exercises, students will survey American slavery through William Grimes as they simultaneously follow Gina’s journey to recover her past while considering what these parallel stories tell us today. Upon completion of AIM in the classroom, students from participating schools, clubs, and associations in California will be invited to partake in AIM’s annual theme-based literary and visual arts competition. CCSS23 attendees are invited to screen the award-winning documentary, Gina’s Journey on Friday, February 24 at 7 pm followed by a discussion with Regina Mason about the AIM initiative, how it can be used in the classroom, and how students can participate in the competition component.
