Consider Elementary Student Intersectionality With English Language Learners

In this poem, the speaker explores how our culture would be lacking—in people, in music, in movements, in contributions—without contributions of African Americans.

Maleeka gets made fun of at school about her clothes, her grades, even the color of her skin. In this chapter, she talks about getting teased on a school trip and how even her friend Char was ashamed to be seen with her because of her clothes.

After her father's death, Esperanza and her mother are left with few options and forced to flee to America. The immigration officers are only the first obstacle they must face. Beyond them, the Great Depression and an uncertain future awaits.

Because Najeeb Abreely remembers what it was like to emigrate to America, he can soothe the fears of frightened immigrants he must now inspect and question.

Mari and her family have been sent to an internment camp in Utah. She does not understand what they have done to deserve their internment and longs for her backyard in California where she used to grow sunflowers.

“Connected to Everything” is a story written by Jennifer Greene and published in the Fall 2009 issue of Teaching Tolerance. This story is adapted from a traditional tale of the Bitterroot Salish, a Native American tribe in Montana.

“What was the saddest moment of your life?”

“My father went to work in a chocolate factory. When he'd come home, his hair was all full of chocolate; his pillows were all brown.”

“We had to do a good deed every day...”