This summer, Fatimah Elnashar, Brighter Horizons Academy; Jeff Johnson, North Garland High School; and Lindsay Nadelman, Garland Alternative Education Center, participated in the Candy Brown Holocaust and Human Rights Educator Conference. Educators came from North Central Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, and from as far away as Ohio and Norway.
The annual conference equipped teachers to teach the history of the Holocaust and other human rights topics.
The conference, sponsored by community advocates Candy and Ike Brown, featured presentations by Holocaust and genocide survivors, professional educators, and topic experts in the areas of Holocaust history, and the Rwandan and Cambodia genocides. It offered sessions on specific human rights topics including issues faced by LGBT people, human trafficking, and Burundi’s refugee and persecution crisis.
“Through the Candy Brown Holocaust and Human Rights Educator Conference, teachers gain a deep understanding of human rights atrocities by hearing testimonies of the survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides. This powerful three-day conference provides outstanding tangible and experiential resources,” said the museum’s president and CEO, Mary Pat Higgins.
Candy and Ike Brown, who observed this year’s sessions, said “We believe this conference has a long lasting, transformative impact on educators and the students they serve. This was our way of helping to plant the seeds for a more respectful and tolerant society. We are honored to help educate future generations.”
At the heart of the conference is the idea of “Upstander” versus bystander behavior. The museum’s education staff, volunteers, and leadership hope conference participants will return to their schools and communities ready to empower their students with awareness and respect for others, along with a willingness to stand up for others through community and civic engagement.
As part of the conference, the director of photography for The Dallas Morning News, Marcia Albert, moderated a panel that included photojournalists Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson who talked about their experiences covering global human rights crises and fielded questions. 
The conference was held July 23-25 in Dallas. For information about the museum or next year’s conference visit www.DallasHolocaustMuseum.org.
About Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance: The Dallas Holocaust Museum’s mission is to teach the history of the Holocaust and advance human rights to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference. The museum’s educational and cultural programs have a profound effect on people of all ages. In 2017, 86,843 visitors toured the Museum. They tell us the experience transformed their lives. Thousands of others attended Upstander Speaker events, film screenings, Civil Discourse Panel discussions, and Lunch and Learns. Our exhibitions and programs convey the lessons of the Holocaust including the horrors brought on by unchecked discrimination and deep-rooted hatred, which led to the attempted annihilation of the Jews and the systematic persecution of others. The Museum is currently in a rental location which no longer meets the demand of the growing number of visitors we receive. Visitors to the new Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, opening in September 2019, will experience a deeper immersion into human and civil rights, their centrality to our democracy, and their vital importance in preventing events like those of the Holocaust and other genocides from happening again. Museum is at 211 North Record Street in Dallas. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.