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The announcement on November 20, 1969 from 89 American Indians – mostly students from colleges and universities – that they were taking over Alcatraz Island, set in motion what would become the longest occupation of a federal facility by Native Americans to date. This report aired a year later on NBC News, in December 1970, six months before the occupation ended.

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.”

Glenn Ellis gives a personal account of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and remembers his four friends: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair.