Laughter and the sound of freshmen on a bustling first day of school rings through my ears as I sit at my plain white desk in English, my first period. Soon, voices quiet as 7:45 nears, and my English teacher passes our curriculum to us minutes later. My eyes scan the paper in front of me. The Iliad, Antigone, and the Odyssey, my mind wanders across the text before me in search of a narrative straying from the Euro-focused book list I'd received year after year. Nothing. 

I shouldn't have been surprised by my curriculum's lack of cultural and racial representation. It seemed like the only time I saw my people conveyed through popular media was as criminals or as rappers. But sitting at my desk in English One, I realized how invisible my identity was, erased from the curriculum my classmates and I were shown.

As I got home, I set my Iliad aside. I smiled as I pulled out my newest political read, Internment, the story of a brown Desi girl in a futuristic America where Muslims faced persecution due to their religious beliefs. I was transfixed with each page. I found myself embodying the struggles of the main character, Layla, as she navigated a world where her unique beliefs were misunderstood and suppressed. This. This was what my classmates should be reading. As I flipped through the pages of Layla's story, I began to craft the idea of LiteratureDiversified.

Growing up in the South, I often felt like an outlier. My curly black hair and hazel brown skin juxtaposed the blonde hair and blue eyes I was so accustomed to in the heart of Texas and Nashville. In class, I noticed these racial and cultural gaps widen amongst students as we learned English and History from a Euro-centric perspective. Race was a concept often weaponized against minority figures throughout the literature we learned, and a lack of racial representation furthered the cultural ignorance my classmates and I developed. 

The ignorance fostered by learning about marginalized groups through a predominantly white perspective engendered colorism and a lack of cultural awareness in my school environments. I talked to my colored peers about the issues I saw in our education, and they voiced the same frustrations I felt with our curriculum. As our media increasingly popularized people of color as criminals and terrorists, and our humanities classrooms growingly fostered environments of cultural misrepresentation, I realized Layla's America was not a distant future. How soon was the suppression of minority beliefs? How soon would the open persecution of brown and black people become a reality?
 

LiteratureDiversified’s team includes 76+ student-advocates, and we have worked to develop a U.S. History Curriculum spanning 21 modules and over 250 sources, sharing the voices of various marginalized groups throughout history. We have also created an Introductory English Curriculum spanning 11 modules showcasing marginalizes voices during 11 literary periods. In developing lesson plans, LiteratureDiversified takes an approach that fosters learning amongst educators and students through engaging lesson plans and enriching activities. We receive feedback on our curricula from partner educators and incorporate their thoughts for improvement into our evolving educational resources. To further support our teachers in fostering inclusive classrooms, we have created a 36-book Y.A. novel list featuring the stories of POC narrators, and we have developed a Children's book list sharing 24 stories emphasizing cultural awareness and diverse upbringings amongst children. 

To ensure we reach educators globally, LiteratureDiversified establishes chapters across the world, where we work to distribute our resources to classrooms in each chapter's region. LiteratureDiversified currently operates 8 chapters in Atlanta, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Phoenix, Virginia Beach, Pittsburgh, and Nairobi, and we are working further to grow our presence in regions across the world.

LiteratureDiversified develops original curricula and DEI resources to be implemented for free in partner classrooms across the United States. The lesson plans we develop through our curricula show the narratives and stories of marginalized groups throughout history. We also create professional programs, including a financial literacy curriculum with a focus of fostering financial literacy amongst POC and low-income students. We also accept youth literary submissions, and we have published 8 essays from students showcasing their racial and cultural identities.

In addition to the academic curriculums we develop, we collaborate with other organizations to grow our impact by producing new programs, ideas, and stories. Among these include a partnership with HiStory Retold, where we worked to create a webinar featuring 4 POC college students to discuss the importance of fostering an inclusive classroom environment for colored students. We have also partnered with the Kathai Literary Journal to publish a children's storybook highlighting the diverse cultural experiences of 12+ students who submitted original essays to our storybook. Further, we have partnered with the organization, Taking a Deep Dive, to develop an Asian-American culture and history curriculum spanning topics like AAPI immigration, Japanese internment, and modern Asian culture, including K-pop and Anime modules.
 

Through LiteratureDiversified, we have connected 76 student advocates across 23 states and 5 countries with various racial and gender identities to advance educational equity. Our mission has inspired teen activists worldwide to start chapters of LiteratureDiversified in their communities, where they develop solutions to foster more inclusive classroom environments for colored & LGBTQ+ students. 

Currently, LiteratureDiversified’s resources have been implemented in 26 partner classrooms, impacting over 540 students. Our diversity, equity, & inclusion resources have been viewed by 14,000+ people worldwide. Educators & students globally have given us feedback on our resources. One English teacher wrote to us saying, "LiteratureDiversified has transformed the engagement in my classroom amongst minority students." She shares that "students who once showed little interest in course readings now stay after class to grapple with complex ideas that stem from the perspectives of people who they identify with." A high school student who published their essay on our website says, "LiteratureDiversified has developed a platform for minority students to feel like they have a voice. Through publishing my essay, I feel empowered to continue sharing my voice, knowing others around me face the same struggles as I do."