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Executive Order 9981, signed by President Harry S Truman on July 26, 1948, launched a committee to desegregate the armed forces.

“The students wouldn't speak to me...”

To cover is to downplay aspects of our identity that make us different from mainstream society. Kenji Yoshino argues that, although we live in an age where the law prohibits many forms of discrimination, people still face pressure to hide who they are.

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.

President John F. Kennedy made these notes on May 12, 1963, in response to multiple bombings and subsequent rioting in Birmingham, Ala.

Using repetition, similes and metaphors, this poem speaks of overcoming oppression—specifically slavery—with poise and pride. Despite all of the hardships, the speaker emphasizes a sense of confidence and hope.

Protesting the death of Alton Sterling and the Baton Rough Police Department’s request for Black Lives Matter demonstrators to clear roadways, Iesha Evans stands in the middle of a street as two Louisiana state troopers, dressed in riot gear, approach to arrest her.