On March 26, about 50 people gathered at Busboys and Poets in Takoma for a night of people’s history trivia that highlighted the often-overlooked stories of women, people of color, labor movements, and more. Co-hosted by Teaching for Change and Busboys and Poets as part of the monthly Beyond Heroes and Holidays series, the event drew a crowd excited to put their historical knowledge to the test.
Winning trivia team.
Host Sarah Elwell kept the energy high as teams faced off with questions spanning 20th-century history, world history, U.S. presidents, constitutions, and women’s history. The questions came from our various programs, including Teaching Central America, Civil Rights Teaching, Teach the Beat, and the Zinn Education Project. Participants formed teams with creative names: Education4Liberation, Team Dorcas, The Sweet Inspirations, NewDeal, Smart Tarts, Poetic Justice, and Shrimp & Grits. One attendee noted,
It’s so refreshing to see history presented this way — engaging, inclusive, and fun.
Pictured is Sarah Elwell, host of the People’s History Trivia.
With a full house and an engaged crowd, the night ended with the top three teams winning a selection of books courtesy of Teaching for Change.
A native Washingtonian, Sarah Elwell is a product of Washington, D.C. public schools (DCPS), where she spent her career for 22 years after graduating from Swarthmore College with a major in English/Education and a concentration in Black studies. She served the city’s youth for eight years as an English teacher before receiving a grant to pursue her Master’s at Catholic University of America in Library and Information Science. She then spent 11 years as a librarian in DCPS and 3 years as the professional development coordinator at the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU). Now she works as an assistant director of professional learning at the AFT and was recently accepted into the Learning Forward Academy, Class of 2026, as a Sybil Yastrow Academy Scholarship recipient.
A People’s History Trivia Night
On March 26, about 50 people gathered at Busboys and Poets in Takoma for a night of people’s history trivia that highlighted the often-overlooked stories of women, people of color, labor movements, and more. Co-hosted by Teaching for Change and Busboys and Poets as part of the monthly Beyond Heroes and Holidays series, the event drew a crowd excited to put their historical knowledge to the test.
Host Sarah Elwell kept the energy high as teams faced off with questions spanning 20th-century history, world history, U.S. presidents, constitutions, and women’s history. The questions came from our various programs, including Teaching Central America, Civil Rights Teaching, Teach the Beat, and the Zinn Education Project. Participants formed teams with creative names: Education4Liberation, Team Dorcas, The Sweet Inspirations, NewDeal, Smart Tarts, Poetic Justice, and Shrimp & Grits. One attendee noted,
With a full house and an engaged crowd, the night ended with the top three teams winning a selection of books courtesy of Teaching for Change.
Check out the photos and video clips by Hampton Conway of Firebug Productions.
Trivia Host
A native Washingtonian, Sarah Elwell is a product of Washington, D.C. public schools (DCPS), where she spent her career for 22 years after graduating from Swarthmore College with a major in English/Education and a concentration in Black studies. She served the city’s youth for eight years as an English teacher before receiving a grant to pursue her Master’s at Catholic University of America in Library and Information Science. She then spent 11 years as a librarian in DCPS and 3 years as the professional development coordinator at the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU). Now she works as an assistant director of professional learning at the AFT and was recently accepted into the Learning Forward Academy, Class of 2026, as a Sybil Yastrow Academy Scholarship recipient.
Posted: April 2, 2025