These short stories about social issues focus on characters who experience injustice, seek fairness, or confront systems of power. Some stories examine justice on a personal scale—through courts, communities, or individual conflicts—while others take a broader view, questioning whether justice exists at all within social, political, or economic systems.
Many of the stories on this page engage with human rights, showing characters affected by discrimination, inequality, abuse of authority, or social neglect. Often, individuals find themselves in conflict with governments, institutions, communities, or people who hold power over their lives. Together, these stories explore how justice is defined, denied, pursued, or distorted, and how ordinary people respond when fairness is absent.
Short Stories About Justice & Social Issues
“African Morning” by Langston Hughes
Murai is a half Black, half White boy living in the Niger Delta. His mother has recently died and was African. His father is English and is the president of the only bank in the area. He’s ostracized from the community due to his mixed parentage. (Summary of “African Morning”)
“One of These Days” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A corrupt mayor needs treatment for an abscessed tooth. He goes to an unlicensed dentist. The dentist doesn’t want to help, and they exchange some words. (Summary & Analysis of “One of These Days”)
“The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Salinas
A fourteen-year-old girl in a small town Texas school has been a straight A student for eight years. This means she will be awarded the school’s scholarship jacket, but a complication arises. (Summary & Analysis of “The Scholarship Jacket”)
“The Egg” by Andy Weir
You’re killed in a car accident on your way home. You’re concerned about the family you’re leaving behind, which the narrator tells you is what he likes to see. It turns out you’re going to be reincarnated. (Summary & Analysis of “The Egg”)
“Busy Lines” by Patricia Grace
An old woman waking early can still see a star through the gap in her curtains. Her husband died fifteen years ago, and she’s lost everyone else too. Her appliances are also giving out. She takes care of her needs.
This story and the next one can be read in the preview of Freedom: Short Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The Effects of Good Government on the City” by A. L. Kennedy
You don’t want to break up with someone in Blackpool. You’re at your childhood home, at the beach. You don’t sleep anymore. It’s gradually revealed where you’ve come from.
“The Balek Scales” by Heinrich Böll
The narrator tells the story of his grandfather who lived in a village that was controlled by the Balek family. The people would bring their flax, mushrooms and herbs to Frau Balek, who would weigh everything on the only scale in the village, and then pay them. (Summary of “The Balek Scales”)
“To the Man on the Trail” by Jack London
A group of men are in the Malemute Kid’s cabin for the holidays. A stranger named Westondale comes in, tells a story about following some men who stole from him, talks about his family, and asks to be awakened in a few hours so he can continue his pursuit. Shortly after he leaves, the police arrive. (Summary of “To the Man on the Trail”)
“Dry September” by William Faulkner
Miss Minnie Cooper has accused a black man, Will Mayes, of attacking her. Some of the town’s men discuss the accusation at a barbershop. They are easily riled against Mayes and make plans to mete out justice themselves.
“A Council of War” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A group of women are gathered in a London drawing room discussing the progress of the last seven years. They’re holding strong but they want more. They know who their friends and enemies are now. They talk about going on strike, and how to do it successfully.
“The Weapon” by Jeffery Deaver
Government officials seek information about a dangerous weapon scheduled for use within days. Their investigation leads them to an Algerian professor and journalist who may need to be taken to a black site.
“The Ones Who Stay and Fight” by N. K. Jemisin
In the city of Um-Helat, diversity and harmony are openly celebrated. The citizens believe they know what must be done to make the world better and are willing to act decisively to preserve it.
This is the first story in the preview of How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?
“The Hammer Man” by Toni Cade Bambara
After a verbal altercation with the narrator, Manny has been hanging out at her door for a while. She’s been hiding, saying she has yellow fever. Some adults intervene to no avail. It comes to an end when Manny falls off a roof. There’s an incident later at a basketball court.
“The Finkelstein 5” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Emmanuel wakes up after dreaming of the recent murder of five black children. He gets a phone call about a job opportunity. He adjusts the Blackness in his voice down to a 1.5. When he can be seen, the lowest he can get to is a 4.0. He prepares for the interview and also thinks about the Finkelstein verdict.
“Daniel the Just” by Heinrich Böll
Daniel is a forty-one-year-old man who is tired from the effort of wearing his “put-on” face all day. His wife is worried about a young boy, Uli, who is taking his entrance exams soon. She wants her husband to do something for the boy. Daniel remembers his uncle who used to always say, “If only there were justice in this world.”
“Children of the Sea” by Edwidge Danticat
A young Haitian man is on a boat headed for Florida. He was part of a group that protested the dictator. His lover has remained in Haiti with her family. They are surrounded by violence and terrible conditions. (Read “Children of the Sea”)
“Four O’Clock” by Price Day
Mr. Crangle is at home at 3:47 in the afternoon. Three weeks ago he realized he had the power to mark all evil people in some way. He would be the judge, and he has no moral qualms about using his ability. He sets 4:00 in the afternoon as the time when he will execute his judgment.
“Bontsha the Silent” by I. L. Peretz
Bontsha’s death makes no impression on anyone. He was not cared for, suffered many injustices, and lived in loneliness. He never protested his lot in life. While his death goes unnoticed on earth, it has the opposite effect on heaven.
“The Stub-Book” by Pedro A. Alarcon
“Uncle” Buscabeatas has cultivated a crop of huge pumpkins. He knows each of his forty pumpkins by look and name. He is sad when the day comes to cut them and bring them to market. When he wakes up that morning he is furious with what he sees.
“Sorrow-Acre” by Isak Dinesen
Adam returns to his family home in Denmark as he is now the heir. A barn belonging to his uncle was burned down, and the main suspect is a young man, Goske. His uncle offers the man’s mother a deal: if she can complete a near-impossible job he will free her son.
“An Official Position” by Somerset Maugham
Louise Remire is serving 12 years in a penal colony for the murder of his wife. He is the colony’s executioner, and this position of power and his attitude make him unpopular with the other inmates.
“The Augsburg Chalk Circle” by Bertolt Brecht
During the Thirty Years’ War, a woman flees while packing her things, leaving her baby behind. A servant girl, Anna, claims the child and escapes. She makes a new life for herself with the child, but eventually the biological mother returns.
“America and I” by Anzia Yezierska
Yezierska comes to the United States from Russia. She looks forward to experiencing freedom not possible before. Despite wanting to live a life of creativity and self-expression, she encounters many disappointments, hardships and injustice in America.
“Revolution Shuffle” by Bao Phi
A man and woman rest for a while at the top of a hill. They talk about the food they miss and prepare their guns. Below is the prison camp and the huge metallic pistons. Inside are the inmates who maintain the hydraulics. Outside, attracted by the noise and the bodies inside, are the zombies.
“#DontTell” by Peter Cawdron
A journalist interviews a telepath as a proposed Telepathy Act moves through Congress. The controlled setting and secrecy hint at the power and danger surrounding the subject.
“The Token Superhero” by David F. Walker
Alonzo Ramey was born with the genetic anomaly that causes superpowers. Fortunately, his powers were of the Standard variety. His father warns him that white folks wouldn’t take kindly to a colored boy with superpowers. He ends up getting offered a position with Teen Justice Force.
“Conscience of the Court” by Zora Neale Hurston
A maid, Laura Kimble, is on trial for beating a white man, Clement Beasley. He went to the house of her employer, Mrs. Clairborne, to collect on a loan. Beasley says that when he found her absent and saw the maid packing up the silver he thought Mrs. Clairborne had left town and was sending for her things—things she had put up as collateral for the loan. When he tried to take the furniture, Laura intervened. (Read “Conscience of the Court”)
Short stories about justice and social issues often expose tensions between law, morality, and lived experience. Rather than offering easy answers, many of these works ask readers to consider who justice serves, who it excludes, and what happens when power goes unchallenged.
The stories collected here reflect a wide range of perspectives and historical moments, showing how questions of fairness and human rights remain central to short fiction and to society itself. See also: