Student Texts

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In this spoken word piece, Elizabeth Acevedo addresses the beauty standard that is epitomized by fair skin and straight hair.

The Fugitive Slave Clause was a stipulation in the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3) that enslaved persons who escaped to another state had to be returned to their previous enslaver if discovered. An essential component of the Compromise of 1850 included a strengthening of that clause, through what was known as the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850. The bill served as a concession to southern congressmen who wanted increased power to capture formerly enslaved persons. Congress passed the bill on September 18, 1850, and President Millard Fillmore signed it into law on the same day.

This is an antislavery poem by John Greenleaf Whittier on a broadside with an accompanying woodcut image.

In this speech, Alexander H. Stephens justifies the Confederacy’s secession, arguing that the “cornerstone” of the Confederacy is the maintenance of the institution of slavery and the belief in the inferiority of African Americans.

This argument from William Goodell underscores the moral and legal precedents used to break up families for commodification.

Frederick Douglass argues for African-American participation in the Union army.

A letter written by a free African-American Union soldier argues for equal pay for African-American soldiers.

In this spoken word piece, Elizabeth Acevedo speaks of her Afro-Latina heritage, recounting how she first rejected her roots and then learned to embrace them.

The photograph depicts disability rights activists protesting for accessible public transit.