Student Texts
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Our searchable library of short texts offers a diverse mix of stories and perspectives. This multigenre, multimedia collection aligns with the Common Core's recommendations for text complexity and the Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards.

Choose from informational and literary nonfiction texts, literature, photographs, political cartoons, interviews, infographics and more. You can also filter by text type, grade level, subject and topic.

“The leveled texts have really helped me engage students and introduce them to complex topics in a way they can understand.”

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179 Texts

Informational

President Obama's Address on the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Obama's 2015 speech on the Edmund Pettus Bridge honors the anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," when hundreds of voting-rights activists were brutally attacked by state troopers as they began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. President Obama reminds us of the spirit and struggle associated with the marchers in Selma, or any group of people meeting injustice.
by
Barack Obama
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
History
Economics
Geography
Social Justice Domain
March 11, 2015
Informational

Emancipation Proclamation

With the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln freed all enslaved people in “rebellious” states, forbid the military from repressing their freedom and sanctioned their military service for Union forces. This decree made emancipation a clear objective of the American Civil War.
by
Abraham Lincoln
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
History
Geography
Social Justice Domain
June 10, 2015
Informational

Remarks on Signing the Immigration Act of 1965

The Immigration Act of 1965 abolished the "country-of-origin" immigration quota system and established a system of entry based on skills and family relationships with U.S. residents. In addition to his remarks about these changes, President Johnson announced asylum for Cuban refugees.
by
Lyndon B. Johnson
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
History
Economics
Social Justice Domain
June 11, 2015
Visual

Manzanar, 1942

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, over 110,000 Japanese Americans, mostly U.S. citizens, were incarcerated in “War Relocation Camps.” These photographs were taken at Manzanar, one of the ten Japanese internment camps, in 1942.
by
Clem Albers and Francis Stewart
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
History
Social Justice Domain
September 3, 2015