About TrueFiktion
Studies in brain science and education find that drawing on a learner’s background shapes comprehension and that instructional materials reflecting students’ backgrounds and experiences are critical to engagement and deep, meaningful learning.
TrueFiktion comics and accompanying curriculums make history more relevant, palpable, and engaging to students.
Testimonials
— Sean, Mastery Charter Student
— Brian Knowles, Manager of African, African American, Latino, Holocaust, and Social Studies
Meet our Founder
“One thing my history education didn't do was help me understand the social issues happening in my community. As a result, I always felt like I didn't have agency in improving my community because I wasn't equipped with the right knowledge or mental models. Had I seen myself meaningfully represented in my history education, I would've been able to use that education to make my community better.
Social studies resources, especially textbooks, aren't designed to help students from historically marginalized groups solve problems in their communities. I decided to create content to help teachers and students - especially those from marginalized communities - learn history in an authentic, engaging way."
We’re not rewriting history. We’re recovering it with a diverse community of educators, storytellers, historians and artists.
We empower teachers by helping them master innovative curricula and uplift students by allowing them to learn from lesser-known history from the perspective of everyday people.
We do not produce puffy biographies of historical figures, nor do we produce superhero comics. In the TrueFiktion world, educators are the true heroes.
The year 2019 was the first time in U.S. history where there were more students from minority groups than there were white children. Now, more than ever it is imperative to introduce a curriculum that is culturally relevant to non-homogeneous classrooms across America.
Students have agency when they have the tools and mindsets to actively impact their lives and futures. We believe students will hone these skills only if they see themselves meaningfully represented in their history education. If they're not meaningfully represented, then they won't be engaged in learning.
We use the power of storytelling to drive the development of student agency. Our approach to storytelling in the learning environment is to uncover historical gaps, show how marginalized groups have shown resilience, and make historical moments relevant to contemporary issues. We believe well-designed storytelling helps drive engagement in the classroom.
We use historical fiction narratives to demonstrate people's agency in dealing with racial, gender, and socioeconomic issues over time and give students insight into current social issues. As students engage with our content, they are not just learning reading and social studies but practicing skills that are part of their self-actualization. The skills they are learning give them access to learn about themselves, the world, and how to best leverage these skills to advocate for themselves.
Testimonials
— Molly Mitchell, historian, University of New Orleans
— Dre, Mastery Charter School student
Human-centered design is an approach to problem-solving and innovation that prioritizes the needs and perspectives of the end users. It involves empathizing with users, defining problems, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing designs with the user in mind. Every single step of the comic book creation process, whether we are co-designing or not, is informed by the needs of teachers, students, and parents.
We are fundamentally an education company that produces historical fiction comic books, and our Agency Framework ensures we stay within our mission's bounds. Every story we produce has to fill a gap in general history knowledge, highlight a story of resilience, and feel relevant to today’s diverse classrooms.
Our holistic approach to history education integrates culturally responsive education, social-emotional learning, and systems thinking. This approach is anchored in learning strategies that are backed by research in the fields of education and child development.
TrueFiktion focuses on whole child development through storytelling. Our historical comic books help your students develop their sense of empathy and prepare them to solve the problems of the future.
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