Student Texts
Bookmarked 207 times

Our searchable library of short texts offers a diverse mix of stories and perspectives. This multigenre, multimedia collection aligns with the Common Core's recommendations for text complexity and the Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards.

Choose from informational and literary nonfiction texts, literature, photographs, political cartoons, interviews, infographics and more. You can also filter by text type, grade level, subject and topic.

“The leveled texts have really helped me engage students and introduce them to complex topics in a way they can understand.”

Filter Texts
Text Type
Grade Level
Social Justice Domain
Subject
Topic

179 Texts

Informational

Eleanor Roosevelt Resigns from the DAR

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a non-profit organization known for its lineage-based membership. Members of the DAR must be able to trace their genealogy back to an individual connected to American Independence. In this letter, Eleanor Roosevelt responds to the DAR’s refusal in February 1939 to allow the black performer Marian Anderson to sing at their auditorium, Constitution Hall.
by
Eleanor Roosevelt
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
History
Social Justice Domain
July 4, 2014
Informational

The Reich Citzenship Law of September 15, 1935

The Nuremberg Laws embedded many of the racially based ideological principles held by the Nazi party into written law. The German Reichstag passed this set of laws on September 15, 1935, initiating a period of legal discrimination against those the German government deemed racially inferior. The Reich Citizenship Law is one of the Nuremburg Laws.
by
German Reichstag
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
History
Social Justice Domain
July 3, 2014
Informational

The Negro's Place in World Reorganization

This essay introduces the Universal Negro Improvement Association and some of its core beliefs, such as the idea that all African-descended people should work together to achieve preservation and independce from whites at home and abroad, particularly in Africa.
by
Marcus Garvey
Grade Level
Subject
History
Geography
Social Justice Domain
July 3, 2014
Literature

The Jungle

From a novel that raised public consciousness about conditions in the meatpacking industry, these excerpts provide a glimpse into early 20th century industrialization from labor's vantage point.
by
Upton Sinclair
Grade Level
Subject
History
Economics
Social Justice Domain
July 3, 2014
Informational

Indian Occupation of Alcatraz

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.
by
Frank Bourholtzer
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
Civics
History
Geography
Social Justice Domain
July 3, 2014
Informational

The burden of being a young American Muslim

Hailey Woldt describes being a part of a research team that traveled to 75 cities and visited 100 mosques as part of a study on Muslims living in a post-9/11 America. In Brooklyn, a ten-year-old boy tells of being beaten, prevented from practicing his religion in peace and called a terroist.
by
Hailey Woldt
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
Civics
Geography
Social Justice Domain
July 3, 2014