Debra Fowler

Executive Director and Co-founder at History UnErased

Speaker

Debra Fowler co-founded History UnErased, Inc., an education non-profit, which is the nation's premier provider of K-12 LGBTQ-inclusive and intersectional US history curriculum to supplement mainstream courses and improve the history, civics, and social studies education all students receive. Since the organization's founding in 2015, History UnErased has partnered with over 3,000 schools in 18 states. and has been partnered with the New York City Department of Education since 2018 with funding from the New York City Council. Deb's path to the education profession began with her service in the United States Army as a Korean linguist, before the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. (Her "Fraudulent Entry" discharge story is featured in Vincent Cianni’s award-winning book Gays in the Military). After teaching English at a private academy in South Korea, she returned to the United States in 2004 and spent the next decade teaching new immigrant and refugee students at a large, urban, truly diverse high school. During that time, she produced two documentary films, Hard Truth, Levity, and Hope (2011) and Through Gay Eyes (2013) to promote awareness of students and families who are ignored, marginalized, or excluded within the public school system. "I didn't have the opportunity to serve our country in uniform, but by being a boots-on-the-ground classroom teacher and leading History UnErased, I found a way to be of service to the ideals of American democracy."