This study contributes to the limited research on emergent bilinguals, perspective taking, and second language reading of informative text. The explicit integration of Freire's (1993) notion of conscientizacao, or consciousness-raising, with the constructs of empathy and embodiment (Gee, 2001; Hurtado, 1996) and with translanguaging (García, 2009) represented conceptual frameworks that explicitly guided the pedagogical approaches implemented in the study. The findings indicated that the incorporation of the integrated conceptual frameworks with the prescribed fourth grade social studies curriculum enabled emergent bilinguals to generate their own perspectives concerning social justice and equity when studying about slavery in Texas.