Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Project

The Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Project in the College for Education and Engaged Learning advances excellence in human rights education through research-informed professional learning, curriculum development, and community partnerships. We work with K-12 educators to create meaningful learning experiences that deepen students' understanding of history, human dignity, and democratic citizenship.

Our programs integrate the latest scholarship in history, human rights, and education with evidence-based pedagogy and practical classroom resources. Through workshops, institutes, curriculum materials, and collaborative partnerships, we help K–12 educators design engaging, inquiry-based lessons that inspire critical thinking, historical understanding, and civic engagement.

Human rights education equips learners with the knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions to understand, protect, and advance the inherent dignity and rights of all people. Grounded in international human rights principles, it prepares students to recognize injustice, evaluate complex social and political issues, respect diverse perspectives, and take informed action to strengthen democracy and promote justice in their communities and beyond.

The Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Project supports New Jersey educators in implementing the state's curriculum requirements for Holocaust and genocide education, as well as instruction on the histories and contributions of African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and other historically underrepresented communities. By connecting current scholarship with effective teaching practices, we help educators foster classrooms that are historically accurate, intellectually rigorous, and inclusive of the diverse experiences that have shaped our society.

Dr. Zoë Burkholder is the director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Project and professor of Educational Foundations. She is an historian of education whose expertise includes antiracist education, school desegregation, and civil rights history. Dr. Burkholder is the author of An African American Dilemma: A History of School Integration and Civil Rights in the North (Oxford University Press, 2021), Integrations: The Struggle for Racial Equality and Civic Renewal in Public Education(University of Chicago Press, 2021), and Color in the Classroom: How American Schools Taught Race, 1900-1954 (Oxford University Press, 2011) as well as numerous scholarly articles and commentaries. She is currently working on a new book that investigates how African American teachers were impacted by school desegregation in the North. She may be contacted at burkholderz@montclair.edu.