Level Two Introduction: Toward a More Perfect Union

"America is not the project of any one person. Because the single most powerful word in our democracy is the word "We." "We Shall Overcome." "Yes We Can." President Barack Obama, Selma, AL. March 7, 2015.

Suffrage envoys from San Francisco, 1915. Library of Congress Manuscripts Division.

Suffragists, Georgia, 1910s. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.

President Barack Obama speaks at the National Italian American Foundation Gala, 2011. National Archives, Obama Presidential Library.

Jane Addams at Hull House, Chicago, IL. 1935. AP Photo.

“A Poverty Paradise,” Meriden Daily Republican . Chicago, IL, 1896. 

Picket line, South Chicago, IL, ca. 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. 

WPA sign, New Orleans, LA. 1937. New Orleans Public Library.

Social Security records office, Baltimore, MD, ca. 1937. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

“More Security for the American Family” poster. Courtesy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum.

Victory garden, Ludlow Street, New York City, NY, 1940s. Charles Phelps Cushing/ClassicStock/Getty Images.

Robert M. Ball on Medicare, Washington, D.C., 1965. The National Library of Medicine.

President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address, 2011. National Archives, Obama Presidential Library.

Women in voter registration motorcade, San Francisco, CA, 1956. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Frances Albrier Collection.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., 1963. © Bob Adelman Estate.

The “Longest Walk” parade, Washington, D.C., 1978. The DC Public Library, Star Collection © Washington Post.

Disability rights rally at U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1972. Bettmann/Getty Images.

Pride march, New York City, NY, 1987.Directphoto Collection/Alamy.

Barack Obama victory rally, Grant Park, Chicago, IL, 2008. Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images.

Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 1859. Oberlin College Archives.

Medicare supporters at Democratic Convention, Atlantic City, 1964. AP Photo.

Vietnam War protest led by Jeannette Rankin, Washington, D.C., 1968. AP Photo.

President Obama economic address, Washington, D.C., 2010. National Archives, Obama Presidential Library.

President Obama Speaks at the Newly-designated Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument. National Archives, Obama Presidential Library.

Native Americans participate in the second annual Walk for Survival, Lincoln Park, Chicago, 1974. © Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum.

Election night rally, Grant Park, Chicago, 2008. Chuck Kennedy/MCT/Tribune News Service via Getty Images.

Demonstrators picket over lunch counter segregation, 1960. Donald Uhrbrock/Getty Images.

Women’s Suffrage march, 5th Avenue, New York, 1970. Fred W. McDarrah/MUUS Collection via Getty Images.

Labor Strikes, Chicago, IL, ca. 1919. Fotosearch/Getty Images. 

UC Berkeley campus rally, 1995. Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images.

Women's suffrage, 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Mid-City Realty Company picket, South Chicago, IL, 1941. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Federal Art Project activity, ca. 1940.Library of Congress Music Division. 

The police arresting members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Selma, 1963. © Danny Lyon / Magnum Photos.

American Citizens for Justice demonstrate over the death of Chin, banner reads “It’s not fair,” Chin’s last words, United States, circa 1982. Photo by Victor Yang, Courtesy of the Vincent Chin Institute.

Women's liberation rally on Fifth Avenue, New York City, NY, 1971. AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler.

Iraq War protest march on International Women’s Day, Washington, D.C., 2006. AP Photo/Ron Edmonds

President Obama addressed the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, New York on September 23, 2014. National Archives, Obama Presidential Library.

Students picket in support of affirmative action during National Day of Action, 1998. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

Office Workers Union rally, New York City, NY, 1936. Carl Mydans/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images.

Election night rally, Grant Park, Chicago, IL, 2008. Michal Czerwonka/Getty Images.

WPA truck being loaded with flood debris in Louisville, KY. Corbis via Getty Images.

AFL-CIO rally against sweatshops led by John Sweeney, New York City, NY, 1995. Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty Images.

Mother Jones and textile workers march, Philadelphia, PA, early 1900s. Peirce & Jones/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Picket line, Mexican workers in Corcoran, CA, 1933. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

First-grade class showing age extremes, Gee’sBend, AL, 1939. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Women welders on the way to their job at the Todd Erie Basin dry dock in Pennsylvania, 1943. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Vietnam Veterans Against the War march, Washington D.C.,1971. © Michael Abramson.

The Young Lords Party marching to the United Nations, New York City, NY, 1970. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

President-Elect Barack Obama delivers a victory speech, November 5, 2008. Obama for America. 

Sanitation workers assemble for the “I Am A Man” march, Clayborn Temple, Memphis, TN, 1968. © Dr. Ernest C. Withers, Sr. courtesy of WITHERS ARCHIVE ENTERPRISES.

“A TWINKLE OF TRUTH” Music by BENJAMIN JOSEPH STAFFORD BEINY; Published by MPATH FIVE INTO (SESAC); Courtesy of APM MUSIC.

“NAISSANCE” Music by BENJAMIN JOSEPH STAFFORD BEINY; Published by MPATH FIVE INTO (SESAC); Courtesy of APM MUSIC.

“ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY” Music by Sandy Etienne Richard Lavallart, Thierry Laurent Kronental (SACEM); Published by AXS APM (ASCAP); Courtesy of APM MUSIC.