Additional
Resources
Resources text goes here. Materials to help you plan and host AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL activities.
1. Backroads Tour from Rural Organizing
Produced by Rural Progress, the Backroads Tour will travel coast to coast from May through July 2026, bringing artists, organizers, and local leaders together in small towns nationwide to honor the rebellious joy that shaped America’s musical and civic life. Rural Progress is a national rural civic organization whose mission is to build a Rural America that’s empowered, thriving, and equitable.
2. American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) program handbook
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is a national membership association dedicated to helping the history community thrive. For the better part of a century, AASLH has provided leadership and resources to its members who preserve and interpret state and local history to make the past more meaningful to all people. AASLH is the professional association for history-doers.
Today AASLH provides crucial resources, guidance, professional development, advocacy, new publications, field-wide research, and a sense of connectedness to over 5,500 institutional and individual members, as well as leadership for history and history organizations nationally. It is the only comprehensive national organization dedicated to state and local history. AASLH’s 250th Anniversary Program Handbook provides low-cost program examples that any organization can use.
3. In the Hands of the People: A GUIDE TO CLAIMING AMERICA’S STORY
This guide from Think Big and Topos is addressed to everyone who wants to help create a more constructive, more inspiring conversation about what it means to live in America today. Their multi-method approach — mapping the landscape, listening deeply, and testing frames at scale — brought forward a big idea that meets the urgency of now: In America, the people are supposed to be in charge. https://thinkbigcommunity.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/In-the-Hands-of-the-People-A-Guide-to-Claiming-Americas-Story-Web.pdf
4. Mirror Shield Project, by artist
Cannupa Hanska Luger The Mirror Shield Project was initiated in support for the Water Protectors as Oceti Sakowin camp near Standing Rock, ND in 2016. Artist Cannupa Hanska Luger created a tutorial video shared on social media (included in the link) inviting folks to create mirrored shields for use in onsite frontline actions. People from across the Nation created and sent these shields to the Water Protectors. The Mirror Shield Project has since been formatted and used in various resistance movements across the World. https://www.cannupahanska.com/social-engagement/mirror-shield-project