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A Black radical feminist organization of the 1970s, the Combahee River Collective outline their political ideology in their organization’s statement. They argue that race, gender and class oppression intersect to form new levels of inequalities experienced by Black women.

“English Avenue, an historic African-American neighborhood with an illustrious past, sits at the bottom of Atlanta’s water runoff. Blighted by regular flooding, mass vacancies, unemployment, and impoverishment, English Avenue finds hope in a home-grown response from its youth. Longtime resident MacKenzie Bass — along with fellow members of Street Smart — helped construct a park that curbs the excess water, creates a gathering place, and seeks to reclaim English Avenue’s identity.”

“The Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes Reservation in Montana is home to tribes whose culture was defined by their relationship to their land and their horses. Generations of systemic oppression drained their culture of its traditional meaning, and they struggle with grief, shame, and loss. Their trauma has led to fractured families, substance abuse, and a high teen suicide rate. Charlie Four Bear gives troubled Fort Peck youth a chance to build relationships with horses, and through them, with tribal elders like himself, to reclaim their tribal family’s cultural pride.”

The text is a letter from J.H. Adams to the Bethlehem Baptist Association written in 1918.

Line dance leader Kit Cheung teaches her class of Chinese-American women in an unlikely place: the parking lot of a local library. No other public location offers both the outdoor space and sun cover the group requires for their twist on the traditional Chinese exercise of tai chi. The relationship that forms between the initially reluctant library and Kit’s dance group has created some unexpected opportunities.

“Nineteen-year-old Israel Moncado spent his childhood being shuffled from one foster care setting to the next. After years of untreated gender dysphoria, and the bouts of self-harm and social isolation that often result from stigma, Israel visits his first LGBT center and discovers he’s not alone. When he finds a safe space in a transgender community, Israel begins to embrace his identity.”

“Esperanza is an undocumented Mexican immigrant in Compton, California. She suffers from fears and anxieties caused by her four previous deportations and her high-stress role as her family’s caregiver. Esperanza doesn’t see depression as a health problem. When she shares her struggles with a local priest, she discovers a network of support that ranges from her compadres to a free clinic.”

“Ava is an ambitious teenager who owes much of her inner strength to a dance studio in South L.A. Founder Lula Washington and her daughter Tamica are professional dancers — and they are role models as well as teachers. At their dance school, African American children learn to respect themselves, their bodies, and their cultural traditions. The young dancers also defy stereotypes by mastering ballet. The dance program cultivates self-discipline and mutual support that enables girls like Ava to flourish even when their families are facing hard times.”

“Many residents of Compton, California, live in a food desert, which means they lack access to healthy foods and young people have never acquired the habit of eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Retired neurosurgeon Sherridan Ross may have a solution: Teach them to grow their own food. Drawing on the legacy of farming in Compton by African Americans, Sherridan develops community gardens that transform the attitude of neighborhood youth to food, and benefits them in other ways, too.”

Elijah McCoy overcame many obstacles to become a renowned inventor who paved the way for others.