On Saturday October 4th, 2025, Madeline Squarcia, a SUNY-ESF master’s student, presented a poster about her research with John Brown Lives! and NYS educators. This past year, she has worked with the John Brown Lives! organization to better understand the impact of connecting with place and purpose around critical NYS histories including the Timbuctoo settlement and interracial movements for freedom and justice.
In her research thus far, she’s found some key preliminary insights including:
- That educators who are not familiar with JBL! are also less familiar and not including many of the critical narratives JBL! teaches about in their curriculum.
- Educators who have interacted with JBL! and participated in the Timbuctoo Teacher Institutes and professional development programming are more likely to include interdisciplinary teaching methods and feel a greater connection with the place, purpose, and history of JBL!’s content and are more likely to include aspects of these justice-centered stories and approaches in their curriculum.
- That much of the work that JBL! does has an impact on participants that cannot be captured in words. Their work stirs up feelings and reflections that are so unique to each participant’s own stories, passions, and goals for the future.
She’s worked closely with our staff and community at every stage of this research process thus far, including in developing this poster! Moving forward, she is excited to apply some of these insights and expand her analysis to gather insight into current interconnected programming efforts and movements to inspire justice and regenerative livelihoods. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this research effort and continues to engage with and inspire our work as it transforms with our land, our climate, and our communities!
