In commemoration of Genocide Awareness Month, on Friday, April 21, students and faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences boarded the Trinity Railway Express in Downtown Fort Worth, bound for the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. There, they toured the museum and the special exhibition "Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement."

"The exhibition is sombering and edifying at the same time," according to Dr. Chris Ohan, associate professor of history, who organized the day-long excursion. "While we realize our failings in the past, such a museum helps us recognize the need to always stand for the dignity and rights of all members of the human family." He has noticed with dismay that members of Gen Z have a lack of Holocaust knowledge, with one first-year student on the excursion admitting that she had not learned anything of the Holocaust in high school. "Teachers of history," he said, "have an obligation to present the past — the good, the bad, and the ugly — as a fundamental pillar of a progressive, democratic society."

Fifteen students were accompanied by four Arts and Sciences faculty. The excursion was funded by Texas Wesleyan's McCann Student Academic Development Fund.  For more information about such opportunities, please visit the School of Arts and Sciences.