Day of Action at the National Portrait Gallery
Since it launched three years ago, Teaching for Change has hosted a table at the annual "A Day of Action," hosted by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in the museum's beautiful atrium which is shared with the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The event is held in January, close to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, with family friendly activities led by local social justice organizations and community groups related to the themes of some of the Portrait Gallery’s permanent and special exhibitions.
This year the exhibits were “The Struggle for Justice,” “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939,” “Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return” and “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance.”
For the 2025 event, we engaged visitors in the Teach Truth display about banned books and introduced them to Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose.
We enjoyed talking with students from American University who wanted to know how they could support teachers.
Two of our Change Collective members, Lynda Tredway and Gene Kim, visited the table.
Many of our colleagues were hosting tables, including print maker Alex Huttinger.
Our appreciation to the Smithsonian staff for curating such a family friendly, uplifting event.