MAHATMA GANDHI (1869 – 1948) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was admired the world over for his nonviolent philosophy of passive resistance. This later earned him the name “Mahatma,” meaning Great Soul. In 1894 he began his activism as an Indian immigrant to South Africa. After World War 1, he became the leading figure in India’s struggle […]
Read More...Imagine being a child or a young woman, being refused the opportunity for an education. Imagine growing to adulthood not having learned the basics of reading and writing. How would it affect your life? And looking at another of the many human rights violations: Imagine being a black person, not allowed the freedom of a […]
Read More...MALALA YOUSAFZAI (1997 – ) [1] [2] Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan, located in the country’s Swat Valley. She became an advocate for girls’ education when she herself was still a child. She attended a school that her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, had founded. In September 2008, after the Taliban began attacking girls’ schools in […]
Read More...In February 2009 I heard a series of sermons that inspired me. We were asked if we were ever moved by something—gripped so deeply by something that bothered us that we wanted to do something about it. Or were our lives too busy to notice? Do we feel that our life counts for something? Do […]
Read More...Like all of us, the individuals you’ll read about didn’t have easy lives. They faced difficulties, but despite those difficulties, their lives were full and meaningful. That’s what happens when you find something worth living for. What are some of the obstacles keeping you from living a full life? Are you focusing more on those […]
Read More...WHAT IF…? What if you had lived in those days before women had the right to vote—those days when women were not admitted to colleges. When they could not make speeches in public. What if you were considered of lesser worth to men in terms of reasoning ability? What would it have been like to […]
Read More...EMILY HOWARD STOWE (1831-1903) Emily Howard Stowe was also a lifelong champion of women’s rights. She was the first Canadian woman to practice medicine. She campaigned tirelessly to provide women with access to medical schools, leading to the foundation of a medical college for women. Stowe was born on a farm in Norwich Township, Upper […]
Read More...SUSAN B. ANTHONY (1820 – 1906) [1][2] Susan B. Anthony was a leader of the women’s suffrage (right to vote) movement in the U.S.—a pioneer in the struggle to gain equality for women. Susan was born on February 15, 1820, in Massachusetts, to Daniel and Lucy Read Anthony. She was the second of seven children, […]
Read More...WOMEN’S RIGHTS What if you were a woman, and the sole expectations from you were to take care of the home, cooking and cleaning, giving birth to children and caring for them? Between 1820 and 1860 an ideology was developed that historians have referred to as ‘The Cult of True Womanhood.’ It tied a woman’s […]
Read More...How could we, as victims of disability or crime, be a catalyst for change? Is it hopeless for us to do anything? Or must we give up, using radical acceptance to help us deal with the anger and frustration? Looking back at Britain’s Slave Trade when things must have seemed hopeless from the slaves’ point […]
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