Unlearning slurs

During World War II, a young German girl, Rose Blanche, inadvertently discovers a concentration camp not far from her town. She travels there frequently, taking food to the children on the other side of the barbed wire and meets a haunted fate the day she discovers the camp is gone.

In this poem, the speaker sees a man carrying his son across the street and is struck by the tenderness the man displays for the child. The speaker realizes that humanity must cloak itself in this same caring nature.

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.

This story speaks of the importance of giving. When hard times fall on his land, Buddha reaches out to the wealthy, asking them to help feed the poor. The rich people grumble and refuse until a young, well-to-do girl steps forward and offers to take her bowl from house-to-house to be filled for those less fortunate than herself. Supriya succeeds and many in the land fill her bowl and their own to give to the poor.

Katherine Scholes begins this informative piece by describing the multi-facted nature of the word "peace" and what it can mean to different people at different times. Then she provides concrete ways that each of us can be a peacemaker.

The prince and his pet rhinocerous have a special friendship. He showers her with kind words until one day he lets the thought of gold get in between his and the rhino's special bond.

This tale, about the hunter and the rat, exemplifies the importance of showing kindness to others even when it is unlikely they will be able to return the favor.

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.

In this pourquoi tale, a mother living on one of the islands in the Pacific Islands, is mystified when she bears a round child with no arms and no legs, but she tenderly raises the child until one day he asks to be buried in the sand, where he can grow (into the first coconut tree) and every part of him can be useful.

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.

In this cartoon, people of all sexes, ages, shapes and sizes are lined up outside the Gospel Mission, waiting for food. A mother in line remarks that they donated to this Mission just last year, inciting the feeling that circumstances can quickly change.

“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.

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

“And I asked him everything that I ever wanted to ask. I asked him to tell me the real story.”

“I wasn't like other kids.”

“What was the saddest moment of your life?”

When two sides fail to come together after a classroom election, the teacher institutes the 100 Days plan to try to keep the newly elected accountable and the remaining students apprised of what they can expect from their new president.

In this essay, Nhi relates her experience of moving to the United States from Vietnam when she was in high school. Her story illustrates the value of perseverance and “putting yourself out there.”

“The next day, the police car pulled up and they said, 'We're taking y'all to jail.'”

Helen Tsuchiya, born a U.S. citizen, tells what it was like to move from her home to an internment camp surrounded by barbed wire after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Protesting the death of Alton Sterling and the Baton Rough Police Department’s request for Black Lives Matter demonstrators to clear roadways, Iesha Evans stands in the middle of a street as two Louisiana state troopers, dressed in riot gear, approach to arrest her.

Doreen Rappaport tells the story of a young Suzie King Taylor and her brother who attended a secret school for black children in Georgia in the mid-1800s. Later on, Taylor would become the first black woman to teach openly in a freedmen's school.

Letitia and Mae join children leaving school to march in Birmingham, Alabama. Disappointed that they were not arrested while picketing Woolworth’s, they feel reassured by Rev. Bevel, who tells them they made a great contribution to the movement.