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In this introduction, Alice Walker touches on ideas of activism, the strength of the individual, enlightenment, fear of being inferior and the conviction needed to embrace one's life.

American Indian tribes across the United States are working to revive their lost languages.

Adam Liptak details a recent affirmative action case before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also looks at affirmative action's history, the debates around the policy and considers possible effects of the Court's ruling.

Brought to the United States illegally from Mexico as a child, Reyna Wences has stepped forward to make the case for immigration reform.

Because Najeeb Abreely remembers what it was like to emigrate to America, he can soothe the fears of frightened immigrants he must now inspect and question.

Hussein, the narrator of My Name Was Hussein, lives in Bulgaria. His Muslim family takes great pride in their religion and traditions. But soldiers soon arrive in their village and force all of the Muslims to adopt Christian names, thereby inhibiting their freedom and identities.

Margaret Batchelder writes to President Theodore Roosevelt to tell him how women inspectors welcome immigrants—with smiles and encouragement. Although not allowed to question the immigrants, the women make a difference in the immigrants' first experiences on shore.

Jordan's poem takes on an sarcastic tone as she describes the duties, punishments, emotions and false promises endured by African Americans since slavery in response to Bill Clinton's description of affirmative action as "a psychologically difficult time for the so-called angry White man."

Septima Clark was an African-American educator and civil rights activist. The following excerpt is from a 1976 interview with Clark for the Southern Oral History Program Collection.

After her father's death, Esperanza and her mother are left with few options and forced to flee to America. The immigration officers are only the first obstacle they must face. Beyond them, the Great Depression and an uncertain future awaits.