Read the excerpt from My Story.She took me up a flight of stairs (the cells were on the second level), through a door covered with iron mesh, and along a dimly lighted corridor. She placed me in an empty dark cell and slammed the door closed. She walked a few steps away, but then she turned around and came back. She said, "There are two girls around the other side, and if you want to go over there with them instead of being in a cell by yourself, I will take you over there.” I told her that it didn’t matter, but she said, "Let’s go around there, and then you won’t have to be in a cell alone.” It was her way of being nice. It didn’t make me feel any better.
Read the excerpt from President Kennedy's Report to the American People.It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops. It ought to be possible for American consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and restaurants and theaters and retail stores, without being forced to resort to demonstrations in the street, and it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal. It ought to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated.
Read the excerpt from "American Indian Civil Rights.”One of the most sweeping blows to the American Indian community occurred in 1830 when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. As a result, the government negotiated with tribes to move them to land west of the Mississippi River. The government then acquired their previously inhabited land. Some tribes reluctantly went along with the act. However, many did not want to abandon their homelands.
Read the excerpt from "Why Do Black Women Fear the Fro?” by Cheryl Thompson.Some people might be offended by what I have to say, and others might think: "It's just hair. Get a life." Fair enough. But, since freeing myself from the dependency of chemically relaxing my hair every eight weeks, I feel it important to use my voice.
Which sentence from "American Indian Civil Rights” best describes the conflict the author develops in the text?
Read the excerpt from "Openin’ Night” by Shel Silverstein.She heard 'em giggleShe heard 'em booThe programs sailedThe popcorn flewAs she stomped offstageWith a boo-hoo-hooThe fringe of the curtainGot caught in her shoeThe set crashed downThe lights did tooMaybe that’s why she didn’t want to doAn interview.
Read the excerpt from "Openin’ Night” by Shel Silverstein.Then she forgot A line she knew And went "Meow” Instead of "Moo” She heard 'em giggle She heard 'em boo The programs sailed The popcorn flew As she stomped offstage With a boo-hoo-hoo
Read the excerpt from "American Indian Civil Rights.”One of the most sweeping blows to the American Indian community occurred in 1830 when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. As a result, the government negotiated with tribes to move them to land west of the Mississippi River. The government then acquired their previously inhabited land. Some tribes reluctantly went along with the act.
Read the excerpt from "Surrendering” by Ocean Vuong.From the gardening shows my grandmother watched, I’d learned the words for flowers I had never seen in person: foxglove, lilac, lily, buttercup. "If a boy could dream of golden fields, full of lilacs, tulips, marigolds . . .”
Read the excerpt from "Buffalo Dusk” by Carl Sandburg.The buffaloes are gone.And those who saw the buffaloes are gone.Those who saw the buffaloes by thousands and how they pawed the prairie sod into dust with their hoofs, their great heads down pawing on in a great pageant of dusk,
Read the excerpt from "A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll. Notice that the first letters in each line spell out the name "Alice.”A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July —Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear,
Read the excerpt from "Why Do Black Women Fear the Fro?” by Cheryl Thompson.Admittedly, some black women have naturally long, straight hair, but most of us do not. As such, this is not about burning down the relaxer factory, or snatching a weave off someone's head. It's about uncovering the truth: when a black woman turns on her television, reads a magazine, or watches a movie, most of the images of black beauty she sees are fake, and her natural self becomes even more difficult to love.
Read the excerpt from "My First March.”A group in the back started fanning themselves and singing the song "Heatwave,” making everyone laugh and sing along.
Read the excerpt from "Why Do Black Women Fear the Fro?” by Cheryl Thompson.When you read books like this, you begin to understand why hair is socially, psychologically and culturally significant to the black female experience. While history is always a difficult subject for any oppressed people, you won't ever know where you're going unless you know where you're coming from.
Read the excerpt from "American Indian Civil Rights.”Over the years, American Indian activists have valiantly fought for reform and for the government to honor certain treaty obligations. Sarah Winnemucca, a member of the Northern Paiutes tribe, campaigned for better living conditions for her tribe in the late 1800s. She lectured around the country in an effort to increase support for her cause. Physician and lecturer Charles Eastman, who was part of the Sioux tribe, also strove to improve the circumstances of American Indians in the early 1900s through public speaking and serving in organizations such as the Society of American Indians.
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Read the excerpt from Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.And that was when Turner suddenly knew that he was late for dinner, that Reverend Buckminster would be figuring that he'd fallen into some rocky chasm or drowned in the sea, or worse yet, that he'd come up with some other way to embarrass the new minister. And he figured that when he showed up alive after all, his father would stand on the porch and look at him in a way that said Turner would never be the kind of son he had hoped for—it would be as loud as if he had just announced it from the pulpit.
Read the excerpt from Obama's Second Inaugural Address.This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together.
Read the excerpt from Obama's Second Inaugural Address.But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people.
Read the excerpt from "Finding Unity in the Alabama Coal Mines.”The southern state of Alabama was a stronghold for Jim Crow practices. Nevertheless, the UMWA was able to bridge the racial divide in that state, forming a powerful interracial labor union fifty years before the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s would make racial integration the rule of the land.
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