Understanding Identity

In this poem, the speaker explores how our culture would be lacking—in people, in music, in movements, in contributions—without contributions of African Americans.

In this film, the debates surrounding same-sex marriage are illustrated when a ketchup bottle wants to be with a mustard bottle. Picky, the toothpick dispenser, resists such an idea because it flies in the face of tradition.

In this story, the parents of three children decide not to tell people the gender of the third child in an effort to avoid promoting stereotypes. Instead, they allow the child to be a person rather than a pretty girl who wears pink or a strong boy who wears blue.

The iconic poster was designed by J. Howard Miller during World War II for Westinghouse Electric. In recent decades, the image has gained wide popularity as an emblem for feminism and various other political and social movements.

This excerpt explains that families are defined by love, caring and sharing, not the number or gender of its members.

Every night Bailey dreams about dresses, but each day his mother, father, and brother remind him that he is a boy and dresses aren't for him. Finally, he finds a friend who embraces both his love for dresses and the individual he feels he is inside.

“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.”

“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.”