Global Stories of Citizenship: Oral History as Historical Inquiry and Civic Engagement

Civic Voices: An International Democracy Memory Bank Project is building an inspirational and educational tool for transmitting the stories of the world's great democratic struggles from one generation of citizens to the next. It is a partnership between teachers' unions and other partners in eight countries: Colombia, Georgia, Mongolia, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa and the U.S. Teachers in all eight countries have begun working with students to conduct and record oral histories from activists in iconic social movements. These personal narratives are being submitted to an online memory bank housed on the project Web site (www.civicvoices.org), making them available for comparative and historical study by teachers, students, and researchers worldwide. In addition to producing a resource for future historians, the project strives to inspire students to greater civic engagement and political activism.