Contributed by Heather Blicher, Assistant Professor and eLearning Librarian, Southern New Hampshire University.
Conversations and initiatives bringing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into the learning environment continue to be a focus in higher education. Some initiatives steadily gain traction while others struggle to make even a footprint in the often fast-paced process of creating and teaching courses. As an OER advocate and resource to faculty, instructional designers, and other members of the institution, I consider it a responsibility to support those creating the learning experience by developing and maintaining an OER Guide that puts at least one aspect of DEI in the spotlight so that it is easily accessible for use in the learning environment. This led me to search for repositories of free or openly licensed photos and images featuring people of color, trans, non-binary, indigenous, and other diverse population groups.
While there are numerous content-filled sites with filtering capabilities to assist in narrowing the search, I sought collections that were specifically DEI-focused. Becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of collections highlighting these groups. I reached out to the CCCOER-Advisory email group for suggestions and compiled this list of repositories to share.
- Images of Empowerment: Free images of women’s lives and work, created by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Getty Images; License: CC-BY-NC-4.0
- Allgo Plus-Size: Free stock photography collections featuring plus-size people; License: While attribution is not required, please credit
- Disabled And Here: Free stock photography featuring disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), varied body sizes/types, sexual orientations, and gender identities in the Pacific Northwest; License CC BY 4.0
- The Gender Spectrum Collection: Free stock photos of trans and non-binary people, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- Nappy: Free high-resolution photos of black and brown people, licensed Creative Commons Zero (CC0)
- PICNOI: Free photos of people of color; no attribution required, but can give credit by linking to the site
- #WOCinTech Chat: Free photos of women and non-binary people of color working in the Tech field; licensed CC BY #WOCinTech Chat or wocintechchat.com
- Redefining Women Icon Collection: Icons of women; License: Creative Commons Public Domain CC0 1.0
Please share these repositories with others in your community to help make our institutions more equitable and inclusive for all students.
“While attribution is not required to use some photos, please consider giving credit whenever possible so that others may find these collections. The licenses listed are current as of the publication of this post; however, it’s always a good idea to check the site’s licensing terms before using them.
Connect about this and other best practices for open education on the CCCOER-Advisory group