class and race

In this poem, a black woman carefully analyzes her interaction with a white waitress, whose actions, although civil, are smoldering with superiority.

“The Ponca’s challenge of the U.S. government marked a turning point on the long path of Indian resistance. Increasingly, after Standing Bear v. Cook, the fight for Native rights would shift from the battlefields to the courtrooms of the growing nation.”

Bayard Rustin believed deeply in the power of nonviolence during the era of segregation. In the following essay, he describes its use and effect on a bus ride from Louisville to Nashville.