PEORIA Gay and transgender people have made great contributions to society throughout history, but their stories are rarely told.
That will change this fall when teachers in Peoria Public Schools District 150 start using curriculum created by The Legacy Project, a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to researching and promoting the contributions lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people have made to world history and culture.
Students will have the opportunity to learn about Albert D.J. Cashier, who was named Jennie Hodgers at birth. He emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland as a teenager and enlisted in the 95th Illinois Infantry in 1862 and fought in about 40 battles during the Civil War. They could also learn about the author of “America the Beautiful,” a Wellesley College English teacher named Katharine Lee Bates, who had a 25-year relationship with another professor, a woman. And they will also have the opportunity to learn about George Washington Carver, an
Mike Sabol/1470-100.3 WMBD
PEORIA, Ill. With the goal of providing more LGBTQ-friendly education to grades kindergarten through 12 starting in fall 2021, the Peoria School District 150 Board of Education on Monday night received an update from its Legacy Virtual Advisory Committee.
Legacy refers to the Chicago-based Legacy Project, which created the Legacy Project Education Initiative which, according to its website, aims to “inspire young people who have been forced to grow up without the benefit of historically significant LGBTQ role models.”
The district in 2020 decided to adopt the curriculum in order to satisfy the requirement set forth by Illinois House Bill 246, which mandates “the teaching of history of the United States shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State.”