Nations may squabble about the precise locations of their borders, but in a secondary-school cafeteria everyone knows where the lines are drawn: the jocks here, the it-girls there, and the Goths as far from the rest as possible. Race, language, gender, clothes, music--kids slice and dice themselves along all kinds of lines. That's where Mix It Up comes in. Tamekia Reece reports.

On this day in 1995, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus.

Hampered by petticoats and immobilized on a pedestal, the Southern lady of our imagination seems an unlikely activist. But historian Peter Bardaglio says that several essays in a new book, Before the New Deal: Social Welfare in the South, 1830-1930, demonstrate how Southern women built lasting programs for children and families in communities deformed by slavery and devastated by war.

The Mission of Zink the Zebra is to promote the understanding and acceptance of human differences though specially created character education programs that help children and adults realize the necessity to respect and show compassion toward others.

For many U.S. children, the experiences of the ?lost boys? of Sudan, child refugees from a decades-long civil war, might seem impossibly remote. But Pauline Gordon and Natasha Santos, 15-year-old staff writers at Represent magazine in New York City, could relate—thanks to their own experiences in foster care. Here's their review of the documentary, The Lost Boys of Sudan.

Teens who have been raised by openly gay parents have a unique perspective on the contentious issue of single-sex marriage. Rob Capriccioso spoke with three such teens about their views.

The on-line newspaper Reznet not only helps more American Indian students get a taste of the journalism field, but it’s also a gathering place for Indian youth on the Internet. Wanted: Native Reporters, by Karen Ducheneaux, explores the need for more Indian voices in the mainstream press. And in Craig Henry’s A Native Voice, you’ll read about a student-run Web broadcast

Two recent Connect for Kids articles that address racism and tolerance have generated many comments and questions from our readers. We'd like to share them and offer you the opportunity to respond and become a part of our online community.

Children, it seems, are still learning racist attitudes at early ages—and what parents and other adults aren't saying is a big part of the problem. Connect for Kids' Cecilia Garcia attended a workshop recently that sought to discover the origins of racism within children and how parents and schools can work to build a better appreciation of our differences.

High school student Farheen Haider has taken her painful experiences as the target of ethnic bullying, and used them to teach her fellow students about respecting difference and standing up to intimidation. Holly St. Lifer profiles this Pakistani-born teenager.