Search

The discovery of a memoir by one of President Madison's slaves sheds light on the role slavery played in the White House.

Although her husband died in the September 11 attack, Arissa is targeted for being Muslim. In this excerpt, she is held up by a group of men who berate her and threaten to kill her until they realize she is pregnant.

Rosie's mother and father did not marry out of love, and her mother writes haiku as an escape. After entering a contest, a man comes to deliver her prize—a framed picture. Angered by this intrusion, Rosie's father destroys the picture. In her anguish, Rosie's mother explains her marriage to her daughter.

In this introduction, Alice Walker touches on ideas of activism, the strength of the individual, enlightenment, fear of being inferior and the conviction needed to embrace one's life.

American Indian tribes across the United States are working to revive their lost languages.

Adam Liptak details a recent affirmative action case before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also looks at affirmative action's history, the debates around the policy and considers possible effects of the Court's ruling.

Brought to the United States illegally from Mexico as a child, Reyna Wences has stepped forward to make the case for immigration reform.

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.

Hussein, the narrator of My Name Was Hussein, lives in Bulgaria. His Muslim family takes great pride in their religion and traditions. But soldiers soon arrive in their village and force all of the Muslims to adopt Christian names, thereby inhibiting their freedom and identities.

Margaret Batchelder writes to President Theodore Roosevelt to tell him how women inspectors welcome immigrants—with smiles and encouragement. Although not allowed to question the immigrants, the women make a difference in the immigrants' first experiences on shore.