Hey y’all.

I don’t need to sit here and tell you how much this last year has strained students’ mental health. Ugh.

The good news is, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it could not come soon enough. Right now is the perfect time to prioritize your own self-care, mental health, and emotional wellbeing.

To kick off the month, meet (and learn how to get involved with!) these young mental health activists. And if you need someone to talk to immediately, text DS to 741-741 for 24/7 text-message support from a trained Crisis Counselor through Crisis Text Line.

Let's Do This,

Ben, Editor-in-chief

Whole Histories: How DoSomething Members Are Making Curriculum and Texts More Inclusive

Research shows that many popular textbooks are spreading misinformation and are shown to be biased and politicized. That’s why, around the country, students are leading the movement for better school texts and curriculum around race, racism, and history.

Through our Whole Histories campaign, DoSomething members are helping power that movement. Our community has already submitted 45,323 experiences, problems, and solutions to help make history education more accurate, inclusive, and comprehensive.

“I wish that we would have learned about the invention of race as related to the inception of the United States as we know it,” says DoSomething member Isabel, 22. “We have a harmful rhetoric that race is fixed and has always existed, [and] I think if more people new how race was invented to justify slavery and discrimination they would work harder to humanize others.”

“I would like more curriculum and textbooks that involve different voices,” says DoSomething member Jocelyn, 16. “Many textbooks talk about the Native American genocide, but do not bring in modern day Native American historians who have a different perspective and information than a white historian.”

We’re using your submissions and partnering with educators to create two student-powered guides: one to help students advocate for more inclusive curriculum in schools, and another to support school districts in making immediate change.

You have the power to make sure students nationwide are learning the whole histories. Answer 3 quick questions on your experience and opinions surrounding history education.

Read the latest on India’s COVID-19 crisis… and what you can do to help.

Learn the latest on Gen Z and mental health… with this timely report from DoSomething Strategic.

We’ve got 5 signs your school has an inclusive curriculum… to help you see if your school is making the grade.

This week in Black joy… 22-year-old Kwity Paye, who was just drafted by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, told his mother, who escaped two Civil Wars in West Africa, she doesn’t have to work anymore.