12 Years a Slave, which won the 2014 Oscar for Best Picture, will become part of the public school curriculum on slavery, according to the National School Boards Association. The R-rated film will be paired with the 1853 memoire which inspired it and will be mandatory reading/watching at U.S. public high schools. (Time)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.