Roma and Sámi History Months

The Roma and Sámi History Months project promotes cultural rights, representation, and belonging by highlighting Roma and Sámi cultures as vital parts of Finnish history and  contemporary society. The project supports cultural and educational institutions across Finland in acknowledging and addressing the historical and ongoing exclusion of Roma and Sámi communities, while working toward greater cultural wellbeing and equal participation.

Through staff training in libraries, museums, and universities, as well as the development of educational resources, the project helps embed Roma and Sámi perspectives into everyday institutional practices. These efforts contribute to long-term structural change, strengthen cultural equity, and help create more inclusive and representative cultural spaces.

A key outcome of the project is Missing Stories, a digital learning resource for lower and upper secondary schools. The material invites students to explore the histories and cultures of the Roma and Sámi through significant events and everyday life experiences. It offers fresh perspectives on familiar historical narratives and amplifies voices often overlooked in standard curricula. The ready-made exercises make it easier for teachers to engage with these complex and wide-ranging histories across multiple subjects. The material is in Finnish language.

The project has also reached broad audiences through visually impactful and widely appreciated social media campaigns. These month-long campaigns, daily posts throughout February for Sámi History Month and April for Roma History Month, have brought visibility to underrepresented histories.

The Roma History Month campaigns (2023–2025) have highlighted Roma stories, voices, and visibility in different ways each year. The 2023 campaign focused on facts and personal stories; the 2024 edition celebrated Roma activists throughout history and portrayed quotes from Finnish politicians, artists and public figures on why representation matters; and in 2025, the spotlight turned to public cultural and educational institutions and direct quotes from Roma people and their experiences with the institutions.

The first-ever Sámi History Month campaign, launched in 2025, brought the Missing Stories exercises to life inviting wider audiences to engage with Sámi history and perspectives.

You will wind the campaigns from our Instagram and Facebook account by using the hashtags #RomaHistoryMonth and #SamiHistoryMonth.

By making Roma and Sámi identities visible and valued, the project fosters pride, challenges stereotypes, and contributes to a more inclusive and just society.