Human Rights Award for Women’s Advocacy
Awarded to a member whose activities have helped to achieve significant progress in women’s rights.

Shelby Anderson

HISTORY TEACHER Laguna Beach Unified Faculty Association

Shelby Anderson embodies a relentless dedication to dismantling gender bias and expanding women’s history. She has done this by developing transformative educational programs, such as her authorship of a WWII women’s military service lesson and her co-leadership of a professional development series with the National WWII Museum.

Anderson recently collaborated with the museum’s Educator Advisory Council on the “What’s In Your Footlocker” lesson. It featured profiles of five servicewomen, including a Native American, African American and Japanese American. The lesson highlights their motivations for joining the service, job experiences, and the unique challenges they faced, such as segregation and discrimination. By emphasizing inclusivity, the lesson broadens students’ appreciation of history and encourages them to view these servicewomen as veterans and pioneers of equality.

In Anderson’s classroom, lessons go beyond traditional approaches by incorporating hands-on and discussion-based methods that deepen students’ empathy and understanding. Her focus throughout her curriculum is on underrepresented groups, primarily women from all ethnic backgrounds.

Through living history, she teaches students about women’s military service wearing her original WWII women’s uniforms, including those from the Women’s Army Corps, The Women’s Naval Reserve and more. Anderson’s passion for servicewomen’s contributions challenges traditional male-centric narratives of wartime and helps reduce bias against studying women’s military history.

Anderson is also working to bring a Women’s AP U.S. History course to fruition and contributing her knowledge of women’s military service during WWII to the curriculum. She has co-authored a lesson plan for the UC Irvine History Project on the Mendez et. al v Westminster case that desegregated schools in California during WWII, years before Brown v. Board (to be published).

Her commitment to teaching through a human rights lens helps ignite a passion for social justice among students and educators alike. By nurturing understanding and advocacy, Anderson is shaping a new generation that recognizes and champions the rights of all who served, ensuring that their stories are told and honored.