“Education as the practice of freedom affirms healthy self esteem in students as it promotes their capacity to be aware and live consciously. It teaches them to reflect and act in ways that further self-actualization, rather than conformity to the status quo.” ― bell hooks, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope
An educator, mother, facilitator, wife, author, daughter, activist, sister, and friend, Anna Forgerson Hindley believes in seeing each person’s whole range of humanity. Professionally, her work focuses on supporting positive identity development for young children, uplifting joy in human diversity and inclusion, and activating museums and objects to celebrate differences and make connections. In addition to teaching at Georgetown, she is the director of the Early Childhood Education Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Previously she served as the Senior Museum Education Specialist at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, where she shared her passion for museums and early childhood education with museum colleagues and educators across the nation. Inspired by her experiences as a museum educator at a variety of museums, including the National Museum of American History and the Orange County Regional History Center, and her work in curatorial departments at the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, she is committed to uplifting museums and objects as opportunities for creating a more equitable world, honoring differences and inspiring connections across humanity.
Over her twenty plus years in the field, she has been a contributing author to several publications and exhibitions, including American Cool, Double Exposure: Picturing Children, “Let’s Talk! Teaching Race in the Classroom” and “Museums Providing Opportunities for Promoting a Positive Sense of Self in the Early Years.” She is author of the children’s book A is for All the Things You Are: A Joyful ABC Book. She won the Journal of Museum Education 2017 Award for Writing Excellence for “Early Childhood Racial Identity – The Potential Powerful Role for Museum Programming” and the 2017 Award for Editorial Excellence for “Race, Dialogue and Inclusion: A Museum on a National Stage.”
She often presents to national audiences on topics about early childhood education in museums, racial identity, positive identity development, anti-bias education, and inclusion at museums. From 2012-2015, she served on the national board of directors for the Museum Education Roundtable. She has a Bachelor’s degree in American History from the University of Central Florida and a Master’s degree in Museum Studies from The George Washington University. With Florida and New Jersey roots, she currently lives with her husband and two children in the greater Washington, DC region.
She is delighted to be part of the Art & Museums Studies faculty and is honored to be a learner alongside her students as she teaches the Museum Education and Interpretation course each fall. She looks forward to the opportunity in every class to invite learners to see education as a process of exploring truth and possibility, of encouraging and allowing time for discovery.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Primary
- Adjunct Lecturer, College - Department of Art & Art History