Search

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.

Using repetition, similes and metaphors, this poem speaks of overcoming oppression—specifically slavery—with poise and pride. Despite all of the hardships, the speaker emphasizes a sense of confidence and hope.

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.

Two friends who attend different schools in the same community learn that one of their schools has no instruments for their music program, while the other has multiple different kinds. They use their friendship and musical abilities to confront this inequity and try to bring about change.