Cesar Chavez delivered this speech on November 9, 1984. Chavez was a high-profile leader of the United Farm Workers and remains an inspiring figure in the larger labor movement.

This chapter details the Chinese involvement in building the transcontinental railroad and the friction it caused between them and white workers, whom Chinese workers displaced from their jobs due to their willingness to work for less and not join labor unions.

In this nonfiction piece, Julianna Fields tells the story of Bailey and his two fathers. After protecting Bailey from onlookers' scorn when he was a child, the family decided to participate in a project showcasing the diversity found in local families.

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

Henry Highland Garnet was an African-American abolitionist, minister, educator and newspaper editor. Garnet delivered “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America” at the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, N.Y., on Aug. 16, 1843.

Patricia Smith explores the nation's divide over how to deal with illegal immigration. She outlines the role of immigration in our history, notes the "wariness" felt over immigration ever since, and questions when and how Congress might act on the issue.

Obama's 2015 speech on the Edmund Pettus Bridge honors the anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," when hundreds of voting-rights activists were brutally attacked by state troopers as they began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. President Obama reminds us of the spirit and struggle associated with the marchers in Selma, or any group of people meeting injustice.