ESL Topics - Civil Rights

The Spies of Mississippi is a compelling story of how state spies tried to block voting rights for African Americans during the Civil Rights era. This book sheds new light on one of the most momentous periods in American history.Author Rick Bowers has combed through primary-source materials and interviewed surviving activists named in once-secret files, as well as the writings and oral histories of Mississippi civil rights leaders. Readers get first-hand...

When Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on an Alabama bus in 1955, she sparked the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father's nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party.

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic. Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior...

Few men in American history are as controversial as Malcolm X. In this provocative biography, Myers, winner of a Newbery Honor and four-time Coretta Scott King Award winner, presents a forthright portrait of a complex man whose life reflected the major events of our times.

"Martin Luther King had a dream. He wanted blacks and whites to live together happily. But in America in the 1950s and 1960s, all men were not equal. King led peaceful protests against the government and won changes for the blacks of America. But has King's dream really come true today?"--P. [4] of cover

Fans watch sporting events every day. But only a few are truly unforgettable. In 1887 the Newark Little Giants were to play against the Chicago White Stockings. Set to be starting pitcher was George Stovey, a black pitcher. But the manager of Chicago's team refused to allow his team play against a team with a black player.

Born a slave in Virginia in 1856, Booker T. Washington rose in prominence to become black America's foremost spokesman. This is the dramatic autobiographical account of Washington's struggle to succeed and prosper in a country that refused to acknowledge his existence. From his fight for an education to his founding of the world-renowned Tuskegee Institute, Up From Slavery is one of the most significant and defining works in American literature. A...