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Copyright © 2001 by S. G. McKeever and Andrew A. Kutt. All rights reserved. This curriculum may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of Peace Runs International, Inc. Printed in the United States of America. Editors: Natabara Rollosson Aparajita Fishman Dhrirata Ferency Nirjhari DeLong Front Cover Design: Lee Berube For additional copies, please contact: Pilgrimage Publishing PO Box 161167 San Diego, CA 92176
Table of Contents
Henry David Thoreau ............................................................................................................. 6
Thomas Jefferson ..................................................................................................................... 8 Martin Luther King, Jr. ........................................................................................................ 10
Eleanor Roosevelt ................................................................................................................. 12 Clara Barton ........................................................................................................................... 14
Emily Dickinson .................................................................................................................... 16
Ralph Waldo Emerson ........................................................................................................ 18 Tecumseh ................................................................................................................................ 20
Sojourner Truth .................................................................................................................... 22 Frederick Douglass .............................................................................................................. 25
Cesar Chavez .......................................................................................................................... 27
Peace Pilgrim ......................................................................................................................... 29 George Washington Carver ............................................................................................... 32
Walt Whitman ........................................................................................................................ 35
Wilma Rudolph ...................................................................................................................... 39 Harriet Tubman .................................................................................................................... 41
Dorothy Day ............................................................................................................................ 44 Abraham Lincoln .................................................................................................................. 47
Helen Keller ............................................................................................................................ 50
Elizabeth Ann Seton ............................................................................................................. 53 Jesse Owens ............................................................................................................................ 55
Susan La Fleshe ..................................................................................................................... 58 You! ........................................................................................................................................... 60
Dear Friends of Peace, Peace Runs International is pleased and proud to present America’s Heroes and You Peace Runs International sponsors and organizes the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-‐Home Peace Run, and international relay-‐run for peace that spans over 70 countries every two years. Sri Chinmoy was a writer, artist, musician, athlete and spiritual teacher who promoted events for peace for over 30 years. We, at the Peace Run, feel that the future begins with children and that our children need to be taught that they can be an integral part of shaping and creating a world of peace and oneness. We are extremely grateful to authors Andrew Kutt, Headmaster of the Oneness-‐Family School, located in Chevy Chase, MD, and Mr. McKeever, author and lecturer, for their inspired service in developing this outstanding curriculum. Special thanks to Mark Rollosson, Aparajita Fishman, and Dhrirata Ferency for assistance in its preparation and editing. Shambhu Neil Vineberg Executive Director Peace Runs International
AMERICA’S HEROES AND YOU A Book to Foster Positive Self-‐Image and Citizenship
America’s Peace Spirit took life during a midnight journey to the Jefferson
Memorial in 1991. The authors, while visiting this monument to one of America’s greatest leaders and visionaries, began to contemplate upon other great heroes of American history and the enduring gifts of inspiration and strength their lives have given us. This curriculum was born from a desire to ensure that these heroes’ lives become role models for our society and most importantly for our young people—inspiring them to reach their fullest potential as human beings.
This curriculum is ideally suited to students in grades five through nine. If simplified or paraphrased, the stories can be told to students younger than grade five and the questions and follow-‐up activities can be simplified accordingly
America’s Heroes and You can also be used for grads ten through twelve.
However, in this case the chapters could be assigned to individual students to be done as independent study work, or they could be used as launching pads for more in-‐depth study of American heroes.
The concept of America’s Heroes and You is simple. Each chapter consists of
a narrative about the hero, discussion questions and suggested follow-‐up activities. Each chapter focuses on one quality that the hero exhibited in his or her own life. In the discussion questions and follow-‐up activities, students are invited to:
a) Recognize that quality in themselves or in someone close to them and b) Use that quality in their lives to become better citizens of their school and
community. In preparation for teaching a given chapter teachers may want to develop
warm-‐up questions pertaining to the positive quality highlighted in that chapter or pertaining to some of the concepts or ideas discussed. Since every classroom is different, teachers are encouraged to develop their own questions and follow-‐up activities that will benefit their unique group of students.
Lesson 1
Henry David Thoreau 1817-‐1882
Living in Harmony with Nature
“Nature is full of genius, full of divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.”
“The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling.”
Henry David Thoreau was born when the United States of America was only
41 years old. He lived in Massachusetts all of his life. His father made pencils, his mother took in boarders and he became one of our country’s greatest thinkers.
Thoreau embraced a philosophy and religion called “transcendentalism,” which teaches that human beings find truth within themselves. It emphasizes self-‐reliance and the unique individuality of each person. Ralph Waldo Emerson, another great American, taught this philosophy to Thoreau.
When he was a young man, Thoreau moved to the shore of Walden Pond near Concord, MA. He lived alone there in nature for two years—he built his own house, grew his own food, read, wrote and observed nature. Seven years later he published his famous book, Walden, which recounts his daily experiences in nature.
Thoreau believed that by living simply, understanding the worth of each individual and observing nature, we can find happiness. He believed that by living
in harmony with nature, by preserving and respecting nature, we can learn about and understand ourselves.
Thoreau’s writings influenced two of the world’s greatest leaders of non-‐violence, India’s Mahatma Gandhi and American Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr.
DISCUSSION
1. Discuss the meanings/themes of the two quotes by Thoreau. 2. How do we harm nature? How can we preserve nature? Cite specific
examples in the community. 3. Have you spent time in nature—camping, hiking, etc.? Describe/share
your experiences with your friends. 4. What is nature? Even though we live in cities, can we experience nature? 5. Why is nature important? Discuss eco-‐systems and the interrelatedness
of man/nature via the food chain, air, water, etc.
ACTIVITIES 1. Go to a nearby park and clean it up, restoring the intrinsic beauty of
nature. 2. Plant a tree or garden. Learn about local vegetation, seasons, etc. Feel
and experience the beauty and growth of nature. 3. Make a recycling bin or compost pile to help conserve our own nature
resources. 4. Read and discuss passages from Thoreau and Emerson.
Lesson 2
Thomas Jefferson 1743-‐1826
Religious Tolerance
“I have ever thought religion a concern purely between our God and our consciences…”
“To love God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself is the sum of all religion.” Thomas Jefferson was one of the greatest men who helped to shape and give direction to America. Of his many accomplishments, he was most proud of three: he was the author of the Declaration of Independence; he wrote the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom; and he was the founding father of the University of Virginia. Jefferson not only articulated in the Declaration of Independence the principles of democratic government, but he also made the separation of church and state a living reality. By separating church and state, Jefferson sought to give each individual the freedom to think of, pray to and meditate on the conception of God they chose. He believed that through acceptance of others’ religious beliefs, Americans could create a “religion of peace, reason and morality.” Religious tolerance means to be understanding and to accept the religious and spiritual beliefs of others. “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” These words of Jefferson are inscribed at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. President Jefferson considered it a “tyranny over the mind of man” to force one to accept another’s religious ideas against one’s will. This is why Jefferson sought to separate church and state. Before the Declaration of Independence, most nations in Europe had one official religion and citizens were forced to give money to the state church and profess the official
religion’s particular beliefs. Americans often take freedom of religion for granted, but this idea was brought into reality less than 200 years ago by Thomas Jefferson, who, in essence, believed religion should be a personal matter and not subject to government regulation.
DISCUSSION 1. Discuss the meanings/themes of the two quotes by Thomas Jefferson. 2. What does “religious freedom” mean? 3. Discuss the underlying unity of various religions: Christianity, Judaism,
Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism. 4. Have an in-‐depth discussion of some of the above listed religions. 5. Explore the importance of eradicating “tyranny over the mind of man.”
ACTIVITIES
1. Visit the places of worship of several religions in your area. Discuss the underlying unity of belief systems.
2. Make a presentation about one of your own religious holidays. (Choose students of various religions to make presentations.)
Lesson 3
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929-‐1968
Courage
“Non-‐violent resistance is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice.”
“I am not willing to kill, but I am willing to die.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the age of thirty-‐nine. He died in
the midst of a great battle—a battle for equality among all people, regardless of color or creed. For fourteen years, beginning at the age of twenty-‐five, King fought courageously and tirelessly for the truths in which he believed. In 1964, at the age of thirty-‐three, he was the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Martin Luther King, Jr. stood strong in the face of anger, bigotry, and injustice and had the courage to fight these opponents of freedom. He did not use anger and hatred when he battled against oppression; rather he used love and non-‐violence. He learned the philosophy and practice of non-‐violence resistance from the teachings of Jesus, Henry David Thoreau, and Mahatma Gandhi.
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave speeches, led marches, went to jail several times, organized non-‐violent demonstrations and fought tirelessly for truth. Many of King’s friends and fellow freedom fighters were injured or killed. He always faced the threat of death, yet he marched on fearlessly towards that which he cared for more than all else: freedom. Martin Luther King, Jr. authored five books. King is one of only three Americans whose birthday is observed as a national holiday. Presidents Washington and Lincoln are the other two.
DISCUSSION
1. Explore the idea of non-‐violent resistance. What does it mean? 2. Discuss Gandhi’s use of non-‐violent resistance in India’s attainment of independence. Compare Gandhi and King’s use of non-‐violent protest. 3. What is courage? Cite examples in daily living. 4. What ideals are worth living and dying for?
ACTIVITIES
1. Look through the current newspapers. Find a seeming injustice and theoretically conceptualize, create and organize a non-‐violent protest. 2. Role-‐play various scenarios showing how truthfulness, honesty, and love do, in the end, win and achieve their aim: a better world. Use everyday experiences.
Lesson 4
Eleanor Roosevelt 1884-‐1962
Self-‐Giving
“If anyone were to ask me what I want out of life, I would say—the opportunity for doing something useful, for in no other way, I am convinced, can true happiness be
attained.”
“I am interested in every child who needs help, and I am ready to help him.”
Eleanor Roosevelt was born in 1884 in New York. By the time she was seven, her father had left the family and her mother had died. At age nineteen, she was engaged to Franklin Roosevelt. Two years later, they married.
In 1921, her husband, while Governor of New York, was crippled by polio. Both emerged from the experience stronger and more sensitive to the suffering and needs of others. She then became the “eyes and ears” of her husband because he was unable to walk or visit many places.
In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. He was re-‐elected three times and served as President until his death in 1945. Eleanor Roosevelt became the greatest First Lady in American history.
Eleanor traveled widely, lecturing on humanitarian needs, joined in to solve government conflicts and even flew with Amelia Earhart, the pioneering woman pilot, to show people that plane travel was safe. She also founded a daily syndicated newspaper column called “My Day,” reporting on her travels and White House life. Each time she lectured, she prayed silently beforehand that she would have something meaningful to say. She became a powerful advocate for the weak and disadvantaged in American society.
In 1945, Eleanor’s husband died. Harry Truman then became President, but Mrs. Roosevelt did not retire. Soon she was one of five American delegates to the United Nations General Assembly. Mrs. Roosevelt was instrumental in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Throughout the remaining years of her life, she remained active and involved, giving of herself so that others could have more fulfilling lives. Eleanor spoke out on civil rights and nuclear disarmament and traveled to virtually every corner of the globe to offer her concern and goodwill. At the age of seventy-‐five, she was a visiting lecturer at Brandeis University and created a television series called “The Prospects of Mankind,” inviting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be her first guest. When John F. Kennedy became President in 1961, he asked Mrs. Roosevelt to serve at the United Nations, to help in the Peace Corps and to chair the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.
Perhaps President Truman summed up her life best when he said, “I told her she was the First Lady of the World.”
DISCUSSION
1. How can one’s own suffering make one more understanding of the suffering of others?
2. Does one have to be in politics to help others? 3. Discuss the various avenues Mrs. Roosevelt used to help others. 4. Contrast unconditional self-‐giving with conditional giving.
ACTIVITIES
1. Prepare and present reports on various phases of Eleanor Roosevelt’s life: 1905-‐1932, 1932-‐1945 and 1945-‐1962.
2. Take a field trip centered on an act of self-‐giving, helping others in some way.
3. Explore how you can give of yourself to help others.
Lesson 5
Clara Barton 1821-‐1912
Concern and Compassion
“I had inherited the rich blessings of health and strength of constitution, and I felt that some return was due from me and that I ought to be there (in the Civil War).”
“We were a little band of almost empty-‐handed workers literally by ourselves in the
wild woods of Virginia, with three thousand suffering men crowded upon the few acres within our reach.”
Clara Barton was born on Christmas Day in Massachusetts. The United States
was only 45 years old. Women at that time were not allowed to vote and were considered, in many ways, inferior to men. Clara’s great grandfather fought in the American Revolution and her great, great grandfather defended a woman accused of being a witch at the Salem witch trials.
At age sixteen, Clara decided to become a teacher; although she was shy and uncomfortable in social situations, her desire to teach children was more important. She taught school for ten years, and then decided she wanted more schooling. At that time in America, few women went to college or were well educated. She went to Clinton College in New York. After her education Barton got involved in several projects, but her confidence and enthusiasm yearned for a great undertaking. At age thirty-‐one, she opened the first public school in New Jersey. The school started with four children; within a year there were two hundred students. Unfortunately, because of discrimination against women, as the school grew, Clara was replaced as principal of the school by a man. This made her sad and depressed. She decided to leave New Jersey and head for Washington, DC, not sure what she was going to do
next. For a while she worked in the U.S. patent office and was one of the few women to hold a federal job.
In 1861, as the Civil War broke out, Clara began to collect supplies for injured soldiers. Realizing that many of the sick and wounded were dying on the battlefields because of lack of immediate care, Barton decided to go to the battlefront to help. At age forty, she ventured into the battlefields of the Civil War to nurse the sick and wounded. This was unheard of in those days. It was only a few years earlier, in 1860, that Florence Nightingale opened the first school of nursing in England. After the war, Barton organized searches for missing soldiers and lecture around the country on her war experiences. By 1868 she was exhausted from two years of travel and lecturing and decided to take rest in Europe.
Barton’s energy returned and in 1870 she volunteered for Red Cross work in the Franco-‐Prussian War. Later she helped the homeless in Paris. Upon her return to the United States, she began plans to organize the Red Cross in the United States. After many years of effort, the first chapter of the American Association of the Red Cross was established in 1881. Clara Barton died on April 12, 1912 at the age of ninety. The last thirty years of her life were spent lecturing, teaching, organizing, and creating new ways and ideas for helping others who were suffering.
DISCUSSION 1. Explore in depth the work and lives of Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale. 2. What is the Red Cross and how is it organized? 3. How have women’s lives changed since the 1860’s? What changes still need
to be made? 4. How can an individual cultivate compassion and concern?
ACTIVITIES
1. Take a field trip to a hospital, Red Cross Headquarters or shelter and learn how one person can help many.
2. Learn the basic first aid techniques. 3. Learn about professions that focus on helping and healing others.
Lesson 6
Emily Dickinson 1830-‐1886
Simplicity
“Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed.”
“I never saw a moor; I never saw a sea, yet I know how the heather looks and what a billow be.”
“We never know how high we are till we are asked to rise and then if we are true to
plan our statures touch the skies.”
Emily Dickinson was born and lived all of her life in Amherst, Massachusetts. She rarely traveled away from home. She spent her time focusing on writing poetry and contemplating the meaning of life. She believed that the important things in life were not fancy clothes or other possessions, but the magical things that happen every day: a hummingbird flying, the wind blowing, the moon or the stars. Her life was proof that you didn’t need outer possessions to achieve great things.
Because she lived such a simple, quiet life, we don’t know very much about Emily Dickinson. She did not have many friends and she did not go out into town very much. But from her simple life emerged wonderful poetry. Many people consider her one of the greatest American poets. How could she become a great poet without traveling in the world and having many experiences or meeting many people? It is because she was able to see the greatness and beauty of the whole universe in the little things around her. On her walks through the woods and
meadows she was able to observe nature as a living miracle. Through poetry she was able to capture that miracle in words.
Emily Dickinson teaches us some important lessons which ewe can use in our own lives. First is that the simple, natural things in life are what make us happiest. Second, to be a truly successful person, you don’t need to have much money or to own many things. You just have to work hard and stay focused on your goal. Third, you don’t need to look far in search of a career. Just begin by looking at your own talents and at what you love to do most. In these ways, Emily Dickinson is truly a heroine we can learn from.
DISCUSSION
1. Do you have a relative or friend who has lived a simple life such as Emily Dickinson’s? Describe your relative or friend to the class.
2. In what ways do you think it is or it isn’t possible to live life today as Emily Dickinson did in the 1800’s?
3. Are there are any heroes in the movies or on TV who live a very simple life or try to return to a simple life in some way? Describe and compare them.
4. In general, does our modern American society put a high value on simple, natural things or on a modest but happy lifestyle?
ACTIVITIES
1. With watercolors or colored pencils and with your imagination, try to recreate a scene of what Emily Dickinson might have seen on one of her
walks through the woods and meadows of Massachusetts. (You may want to do a little research on the geography of Massachusetts first.)
2. Choose one of the quotes from Emily’s poems and write a paragraph explaining in your own words what you think the meaning of the poem is. Please read the poem at least two times before beginning to think about the meaning. You may choose another poem of Emily Dickinson not quoted here.
3. Do the same assignment as in #2, but instead of working alone, complete the assignment as a group with one or two other students. Take notes as you discuss the poem, but instead of writing a paragraph, elect a spokesperson and describe the meaning of the poem in a brief oral report to the rest of the
class.
Lesson 7
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-‐1882
Self-‐Reliance
“The things taught in the schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education.”
“Man is his own star; and the soul that can render an honest and perfect man,
commands all light, all influence, all fate.”
“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present at every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you can have only an extemporaneous, half possession. That which each can do best,
none but his Maker can teach him.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson began his professional career as a New England pastor. He resigned his post as pastor because of doubts over the communion ritual. Emerson did not yet truly know what he believed in, and he did not feel it was good to continue doing something that was not true to himself. His love of God was too deep for form and convention. As a result, he went to Europe to find himself, and there he met many notable writers. Upon returning to America, he turned to writing and lecturing, eventually distinguishing himself as the leader and mentor of a group of writers who called themselves “Transcendentalists.”
Emerson and the other transcendentalists believed that we should follow what we believe in our own hearts and minds. We should not always blindly follow what others have done or said. In his life, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a strong example of standing up for what you believe in. He expressed many opinions about
life, people and God that others did not understand or agree with. Some people at first even made fun of Emerson because of his new ideas. However, Ralph Waldo Emerson never stopped relying on himself, and he eventually became one of the most respected philosophers in the world. Some of his thoughts about the greatness inside each human being are considered to be among the most profound ideas in history.
Emerson was able to achieve success because he trusted himself completely and because he as very courageous. He helped many other people, such as Henry David Thoreau, to also become self-‐reliant individuals. Emerson also spoke out against slavery and in support of the emancipation of slaves. His golden message to all was “trust thyself.” This message touched many people because they could find strength and inspiration in his words and ideas, no matter what their lifestyle or background. Ralph Waldo Emerson is an American hero because he was such a unique and powerful example of the American individualist spirit.
DISCUSSION 1. Is Emerson’s advice easier to discuss than to actually follow?
2. What is the difference between being self-‐reliant and refusing to cooperate with a group?
3. What do you think it means to be self-‐reliant in today’s world? Give examples from your own life where you or someone close to you has had to
be self-‐reliant. 4. Can you be self-‐reliant and still depend on your friends?
5. Name a person who has influenced your life and explain how that person has influenced you. In what ways was this person a self-‐reliant person?
ACTIVITIES
1. Interview a person in your class. Ask him or her as many questions as you can that will tell you what makes that classmate special or different from anyone else (especially questions that will require more than “yes” or “no” answers). You many want to record the interview on an audio or videotape. Then present a report to the class about how your classmate is unique.
2. Choose a period in history and compare it to today. You could write a story about how a famous character from that period would react to life today, or you could create a scene where this period had a modern invention—such as if there was penicillin during the Black Plaque—or you could do a drawing or
diorama. 3. Choose one of the quotes above from Ralph Waldo Emerson and write an
essay expressing what you feel is the meaning of his words and how the words can be applied in our day-‐to-‐day modern world. Or break into small groups and discuss the meaning of one of the quotes. Then give a short oral
report to the rest of the class. 4. Break into small groups. Create and perform a short skit that expresses self-‐
reliance in some way. It can be comic or serious. Afterwards, discuss with the whole class whether Emerson would be pleased or amused with this
expression of self-‐reliance.
Lesson 8
Tecumseh 1768-‐1813
Cooperating for a Common Goal
“Brothers! We all belong to one family; we are all children of the Great Spirit; we walk in the same paths; slake our thirst at the same spring.”
“Brothers! We are friends; we must assist each other to bear our burdens.”
Tecumseh was a great Shawnee Indian chief born in Ohio. His name meant
“panther lying in wait.” As his name indicates, Tecumseh was very sly, clever and brave.
When Tecumseh was six years old, his father was killed in a battle against white settlers who had taken the Indians’ land. Later, his older brother was also killed. Many Indians were killed in the battles against the white settlers. It seemed that the Indian cause was hopeless.
Tecumseh believed that the only way the Indians could succeed was if all the various tribes were to put aside their differences and unite. He believed the Indians needed to be strong and work together. In order to be strong, they had to stop drinking the whiskey they got from the settlers.
Tecumseh had another brother, Tenskwatawa, who drank whiskey and, as a result, was neither strong nor clever. But one day Tenskwatawa had a vision. From that day forward he stopped living badly and decided to join Tecumseh in his mission to bring together all the Indian tribes to save their land from the settlers. Tecumseh’s brother became known as “The Prophet.”
Together, Tecumseh and The Prophet preached a philosophy of simplicity, healthy living, honesty, brotherhood and reverence. They helped Indians of many different tribes see that they shared a common heritage and that they were all brothers and sisters even though they spoke different languages. Tecumseh and The Prophet taught the Indians to be proud of who they were and not allow themselves to be prisoners of the white man’s ways or his whiskey.
Many Indians of different tribes listened to the two brothers. They joined together to build a village where all Indians could cooperate to preserve the Indian ways and to defend themselves against the white settlers. The village, near the fork of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers, was called Prophet Town.
The leader of the settlers was General Harrison. He tried his best to discredit these two. General Harrison told the Indians they should make The Prophet prove that he really was a holy man by making the sun stand still. The Prophet accepted the challenge and said he would cause the sun to grow dark on a certain afternoon. Just as The Prophet predicted, on June 16, 1806, the sun grew dark as there was a solar eclipse! The Indians, as well as General Harrison, were amazed. It is still a mystery how The Prophet knew about the eclipse. Nonetheless, the message of The Prophet and his brother Tecumseh lives to this day: if you work together as a group, you can accomplish great things.
DISCUSSION
1. How do you think The Prophet knew about the 1806 eclipse? 2. What are some tasks or activities that can only be completed with teamwork?
Make a list of many different kinds of activities and then describe the importance of teamwork in each task or activity.
3. Describe some of the obstacles that make it difficult for people to cooperate with each other. Share examples of this from your personal experience.
4. In your opinion, what is the most important ingredient necessary for cooperation to take place? Give reasons to support your answer.
5. Can you think of other examples in history where a leader tried to unite people and get them to cooperate for a common goal? Which groups of
people were being asked to unite? What was the common goal? 6. What lessons about healthy living can we learn from Tecumseh?
7. What do you think it means to be a “pioneer of someone else’s way?”
ACTIVITIES 1. Cooperate with your class in designing and creating a mural or a collage about Tecumseh and The Prophet, about Native Americans or about some
example of cooperation between people. 2. Break into groups and have each group invent a game where cooperation is
necessary to succeed. Then have a carnival with all the games and invite younger students, parents, and friends.
3. Write an essay in answer to discussion question #2, #3, or #4 above. Or write an imaginative piece about how Tecumseh came to have knowledge of the eclipse and solar phenomena or break into small groups and do a skit
based on questions #3 or #5 above.
Lesson 9
Sojourner Truth 1797-‐1883
Self-‐Transcendence
“I saw the wheat a holdin’ up its head, looking very big. I went up and took hold of it. You believe it—there was no wheat there! I said, “God what is the matter with this wheat?” And He said, “Sojourner, there is a little weevil in it.” Now I hear talking about the Constitution and the rights of man. I came up and take hold of this
Constitution. It looks mighty big but when I feel for my rights, there ain’t any there. Then I say, “God what ails this Constitution?” He says to me, “Sojourner, there is a little
weevil in it.”
“Then this little man in black says women can’t have as many rights as men. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone,
these women together [in the hall] out to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again! And now that the women are asking to do it, the men better let ‘em.”
Sojourner Truth was born a slave. Her given name was Isabella Van Wagner.
During the late 1700’s and early 1800’s African-‐Americans were considered not much different than animals. Slaves did not receive pay and were barely given enough food to survive. They often lived in inhuman conditions and were beaten when they did not obey their masters. When she was nine years old, Isabella was sold with six sheep to a new master. Since her first master was Dutch that was the only language she knew. Her new master spoke only English, and when Isabella did
not understand what was being asked of her, he thought she was being disobedient. He bound Isabella’s hands and whipped her back until she bled.
There were many, many other hardships and sufferings like this which Isabella had to endure. What carried her through the pain and humiliation of these years was her faith. When she was a child, Isabella’s mother had told her, “My child, there is a God who hears and sees you. He lives in the sky, and when you are beaten or cruelly treated or get into any trouble, you must ask help of Him, and He will always hear and help you.”
She became free because of a law passed in the state of New York. However, because there were hardly any job opportunities for freed slaves, Isabella ended up going back to her old masters for work. Over the years, she remained strong in body and spirit. Then in June 1843, Isabella had a vision in which she received a message to help the plight of slaves and freed slaves. Without knowing exactly where she was going, she left on a journey that would last the next forty years. A new life had begun, and Isabella gave herself a new name, Sojourner Truth, because she felt that now her only mission in life was to “testify” to the truth about the horrors of slavery.
Sojourner Truth traveled from town to town, often without having any money or knowing where she would sleep at night. Wherever she went, people would be so moved by her speeches that they would give her food and shelter and help her along the way. Sojourner became very well known for her noble character, her courageous life and her powerful speeches and hymns. She met with famous abolitionists and even President Lincoln. She supported the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape. After the end of the Civil War, Sojourner continued to work for the rights and opportunities of African-‐Americans. She was also a great advocate of women’s rights.
Sojourner Truth did many great things in her life, although she had been born a slave. Many slaves lost hope in their lives, but Sojourner had the faith and courage to believe in a brighter future for African-‐Americans. She is a remarkable example of self-‐transcendence: the idea that we can overcome any obstacles if we strive and never give up.
DISCUSSION 1. Self-‐transcendence means we can always go beyond what we think are our limits. Can you think of any examples of self-‐transcendence in your own life or in the life of someone you know, where someone has overcome some
obstacles or difficulties to achieve something? 2. The situation of African-‐Americans did not change very much even after they
were officially freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. What do you think were some of the reasons for this? State a theory and give reasons to support
it. 3. Slavery doesn’t exist in America anymore. But many people still live in almost slave-‐like conditions. Can you think of ways you could follow the example of Sojourner Truth and do something positive to help and inspire our brothers and sisters who live in poverty and in communities with few
opportunities for a bright future?
ACTIVITIES 1. As a class, borrow a copy of Sojourner Truth’s autobiography called The Narrative of Sojourner Truth from the library. Break into small groups and have each group study a small passage from the book. Suggested passages to focus on: a) Sojourner’s description of her vision and how she departed on her courageous journey after that; b) Sojourner’s famous speech in Boston’s Tremont Hall on January 1, 1871; c) Sojourner’s battle to integrate the New York City streetcar system and her interactions with the violent streetcar driver; d) Sojourner’s journey to Indiana after it had passed a state law
banning Negroes from the state; e) Sojourner’s conversation with Frederick Douglass about what was the best way to free the slaves; f) Sojourner’s
famous meeting with Senators on Capitol Hill to discuss land grants for freed slaves.
2. Have each group reenact the passage they studied, or have each group tell the rest of the class about what happened in the passage they studied.
Lesson 10
Frederick Douglass 1817-‐1895
Fortitude and Will Power
“We have heard much of late of the virtue of patriotism, the love of country…I, too, would like to invoke the spirit of patriotism…not to hide our shame from the world’s
gaze, but to utterly abolish the cause of that shame.”
“Abraham Lincoln alone of all our presidents was to have the opportunity to destroy slavery and lift into manhood millions of his countrymen hitherto held as chattels and
numbered with the beasts of the field.”
Frederick Douglass was born a slave. His real name was Frederick Bailey, but he changed his name to Douglass so the slave traders would not catch him. From his earliest childhood, he dreamed of being free.
When Frederick was a boy in Baltimore, his master’s wife taught him the alphabet. Frederick knew that reading was his way to get the freedom he dreamed of, but his master, Hugh Auld, forbade his wife to ever teach Frederick anything ever again. Frederick found other ways to learn. Little by little, because of his determination, he learned to read. The more he learned, the more he realized how evil slavery was. He talked to other slaves about not accepting their condition and fighting back.
Finally, from Baltimore, Frederick managed to escape to New York City. He sent for his sweetheart and they moved to Massachusetts. Eventually he had to leave his wife and family and escape to England to prevent his master from tracking
them down. He traveled and spoke for two years until friends raised a sum of money and sent it to his master to buy Frederick’s freedom.
In 1847, Douglass sailed back to America a free man. He moved to Rochester, New York, where his house became an important stop on the Underground Railroad. This civil disobedience was illegal and dangerous but Frederick knew it was the right thing to do. Douglass and his family helped more than four hundred slaves escape to freedom. During the Civil War, Frederick helped recruit the first regiment of black soldiers. Frederick also met with President Lincoln to discuss how black soldiers were not being treated fairly. This led the government to pass a law requiring that the black soldiers be treated exactly the same as white soldiers. Later Frederick was appointed Marshal of the District of Columbia and Consul-‐General to Haiti.
During the last years of his life, Frederick fought for laws that would better protect his people. It was his determination to fight for the truth that gave strength and purpose to his life. In the end, even Frederick’s slave master admired Frederick’s determination.
DISCUSSION 1. None of us are slaves, but how can each of us use the kind of determination
that Frederick Douglass showed in his life? 2. Why do you think words were Frederick’s most powerful and effective tool to
fight against slavery and to fight for justice and equality? When did Frederick learn how to read words? When did he first learn the power of words? In what ways did Frederick use written and spoken words to
accomplish his goals?
ACTIVITIES 1. What are you determined to do in your life? Write down one to three goals you want to achieve in your life. Then make a list of five to ten steps you will follow to achieve your goals. Share your goals and steps with the class.
2. Break into small groups and choose a part of Frederick’s life to reenact, such as Frederick’s confrontation with Mr. Covery, his conversation with Abraham Lincoln, or his meeting with Captain Auld when Captain Auld was on his
deathbed. 3. Write a short essay about why Frederick Douglass is an inspiration to you.
Lesson 11
Cesar Chavez 1927-‐1993
Problem Solving
“We can communicate to people, either those who are for us or against us, faster and more effectively spiritually than we can in any other way.”
“The truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for
others in a totally non-‐violent struggle for justice.”
Cesar Estrada Chavez was born into a Mexican-‐American family in Yuma, Arizona, and was raised in the midst of the Great Depression. He was ten years old when he watched government bulldozers level his family’s farm and home because they could not pay their taxes. His family—mother, father, and five brothers and sisters—climbed into a station wagon and headed for California to seek a better life. It would be a life of great challenges.
Cesar’s family worked in California as farm laborers. Most farms are owned by large corporations. During the Depression, over 300,000 poor workers migrated to California. Due to this surplus of workers, the farm owners were able to exploit the workers. This exploitation took the form of below poverty-‐level wages, difficult or dangerous working conditions and few benefits.
Cesar Chavez had to quit school in the seventh grade in order to work full-‐time after his dad was injured in an automobile accident.
When Cesar was a young boy, his mother taught him a few “dichos” or sayings, which he used throughout his life when facing challenges. Two of those
were “It takes two to fight and one can’t do it alone,” and “God gave you eyes and mind and tongue and with these you can do anything.” His parents and grandparents also ingrained in the family a deep sense of equality of all human beings.
Cesar served two years in the Navy during World War II. He returned to California, married Helen Fabela, began to raise his own family and worked as a farm laborer. Cesar was not willing to see himself and his fellow farm workers exploited by the growers, even if the growers were large multinational corporations. He decided to help his people have a better life and thus began his life work. Cesar was inspired by the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, St. Francis of Assisi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Cesar began by uniting the individual farm laborers into a union, the United Farm Workers. The UFW organized strikes, picket lines, international boycotts, voter registration drives, political recalls, multi-‐day protest marches, college lectures and letter writing campaigns. Three times during his life Cesar fasted to draw attention to the plight of his people and to implore people to stick to the ideal of non-‐violent protest.
Regardless of the immensity of the challenges or the power of the forces he had to confront, Cesar Chavez never gave up on his march towards a world where all men and women were treated with respect and equality.
DISCUSSION 1. Discuss specific problems/challenge Cesar Chavez faced and how he
overcame those obstacles. 2. Discuss the “dichos” or sayings his mother taught Cesar and how we can all
benefit from this wisdom. 3. Discuss the philosophy of “non-‐violence” and show how effective it can be in
various situations: social, political, and economic. 4. A judge in California outlawed a UFW picket line at the entrance gate to one
of the companies the UFW was striking against. The UFW instead organized a Christian mass to replace the picket line. This was far more effective than the picketing had been. Discuss and identify the problem-‐solving strategy that Cesar used. Discuss the use of creativity and originality in solving
problems.
ACTIVITIES 1. Choose an injustice in your community created or supported by a company
or business. Strategize a theoretical boycott. 2. Study a multinational corporation and its various subsidiaries. Understand
the scope of their power, yet also their vulnerability to boycotts. 3. Study in-‐depth the UFW grape boycott to show an example of the power of
non-‐violent protest.
Lesson 12
Peace Pilgrim 1908-‐1981
Peace
“Peace is much more than the temporary absence of war; it is the absence of the cause of war.”
“I’ve met a few people who had to change their jobs in order to change their lives, but I’ve met many more people who merely had to change their motive to serve in order to
change their lives.”
Peace Pilgrim would tell very little of her life before she began her pilgrimage. She would only say, “I was born poor on a small farm on the outskirts of a small town.” She attended grammar school and high school.
Peace Pilgrim went through a fifteen-‐year period of preparing herself to give her life to God and service. This preparation involved knowing and living certain spiritual truths: developing a healthy attitude towards life, living in harmony with nature, recognizing each individual as unique and special, living simply and purifying her body and mind through nutrition and exercise. She spent much time in contemplative prayer and meditation.
In 1953, Peace Pilgrim started on her journey. She described a pilgrim as a “wanderer with a purpose.” Her purpose was to live and walk in peace. Peace Pilgrim was dedicated to the Spirit. She believed people could find true happiness if they stopped being selfish and helped other people instead; if everyone helped everyone else, the world would become a peaceful place.
Peace Pilgrim’s life was an inspiring example of genuine spirituality. From 1953-‐1981—twenty-‐eight years—she went on a continual pilgrimage walking from town to town and from city to city. She started her first pilgrimage in Los Angeles and finished at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. By 1964, she had walked 25,000 miles throughout America. After that time, she stopped counting. Peace Pilgrim walked across the country seven times.
Once she started her pilgrimage, Peace Pilgrim had no possessions except the clothes she worse, and she had no money. She fasted until someone offered her food and slept under the starts unless a kind-‐hearted soul offered a bed, knowing that God through His creation would provide for her. Wherever she went, she spread the message of her pilgrimage; if enough people find inner peace, our communities and our countries will become peaceful and there will be no more occasion for war.
Many people who met Peace Pilgrim while she walked around America, Mexico and Canada were inspired by what she was doing and helped her by giving her food and a place to rest. They also helped Peace Pilgrim find places to give speeches about the need for peace in the world. She met with people on city streets and dusty roads, in ghettos, suburbs, deserts and truck stops. She was interviewed by all the national radio and TV networks, as well as hundreds of local stations across the country. Newspaper reporters in countless towns and cities wrote about her. She would seek them out, if they didn’t find her first, to let people know about her message. She talked to university classes in psychology, political science, philosophy, and sociology. She spoke to high school assemblies, civic clubs, and from the pulpits of a variety of churches.
As the years went by, her contagious zest, ready wit and simple wisdom widened her appeal, and audiences responded more and more frequently with warm and spontaneous laughter and thoughtful questions. During her lifetime, most people grew more afraid to go out on the streets, yet Peace Pilgrim walked through “dangerous” parts of cities and slept, when no bed was offered, on the side of the road, on beaches and in bus stations. Over the years, strangers became friends, inviting her into their homes and arranging speaking engagements, often a year or more in advance. Peace Pilgrim also wrote to thousands of people who sent letters asking questions or seeking advice. When she died in 1981, in a head-‐on car collision while on her way to a speaking engagement, she was on her seventh pilgrimage.
Peace Pilgrim always encouraged people to seek the real source of peace within, and to use ways of peace in their relationships with others. Many people talk of peace, but Peace Pilgrim walked and lived for peace.
DISCUSSION 1. Peace Pilgrim adopted a life of voluntary poverty and simplicity. Discuss the
ways in which our society today could be improved by following her way of life.
2. What is the difference between a person’s physical needs and his or her wants or desires? In other words, is what we need the same as what we
want?
3. Do you think you can be truly happy by getting a good job and earning a salary, or will you also need non-‐material things like love, friendship,
spiritual belief, serving the community, etc.? 4. Can you imagine living a life such as Peace Pilgrim’s—always on the road, never at home and not owning anything? Try to imagine some sacrifice you
could make in your life in order to help others or to help the world. 5. Peace Pilgrim was always cheerful, enthusiastic and full of energy, even as she grew older. What do you think motivated Peace Pilgrim to be so happy
and willing to help the world?
ACTIVITIES 1. Peace Pilgrim was very concerned about the danger of nuclear weapons and
the possibility of a nuclear war. Today, America is relatively at peace with the countries that have nuclear weapons. Yet thousands of these dangerous weapons still exist, and it is possible that they could be misused or that an accident could happen. Find out what countries have nuclear weapons and how many each country has. Have different workgroups do research to find out about a) the SALT I and SALT II treaties on nuclear weapons, b) the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act and c) the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
2. Do this math problem: Peace Pilgrim walked 25,000 miles between 1953 and 1963 (10 years). Then she stopped counting the miles she walked. If we assume she continued to walk at the same rate, how many miles would she have walked between 1964 and her death in 1981 (17 years)? How many
miles would that make total for her twenty-‐eight year pilgrimage? 3. St. Francis of Assisi and Mother Theresa are two other people who gave up all
their possessions in order to help others and to spread their messages. Choose one of these individuals and write a one to three page biography of that individual’s life. At the end of your biography, use one paragraph to describe any similarities you find with the life of Peace Pilgrim. Are there
any differences?
Lesson 13
George Washington Carver 1864-‐1943
Caring and Concern for the Earth
“Nature study is agriculture, and agriculture is nature study—if properly taught.”
“A weed is a flower growing in the wrong place.”
George Washington Carver was born a slave on a farm in Diamond Grove, Missouri, during the Civil War. When he was very young, his father was killed in an accident on a nearby farm. Shortly after, George and his mother were kidnapped by slave traders. George was found and brought back to the farm of his owner, Moses Carver, but his mother was never found.
George spent the early years of his life with his owners, Moses and Susan Carver. Although he was a physically small and weak child, George had a powerful mind and was constantly asking questions about everything around him: the rain, the flowers, the plants and the insects. The Carvers could not answer many of these questions.
George began to keep a garden where he spent many hours each day. If his plants weren’t growing well, he’d try to find out why. He learned so much about plants and soil that neighbors began to ask young George for advice about their plants and crops. He soon became known as the Plant Doctor.
When George was ten years old, he left home seeking an education. He attended school and worked at any job he could find. He went to various “black
only” schools in Missouri and Kansas, eventually graduation from high school in Minneapolis.
George worked hard for many years and by the time he was 30, he had saved enough money to go to college. Even though he had enough money to pay the tuition, he still had to find a college that would accept black students. Although the slaves had been emancipated years earlier, black students did not have the same opportunities as white students. Finally, George found a college in Iowa that would accept him. He was able to attend Simpson College and finally graduated from Iowa State College of Agriculture. These were both colleges for black students only.
At college, George learned to play the piano. He sang beautifully and became an outstanding painter. But his primary interest was in plants, and so he chose to study agriculture. Soon George realized there were many questions about plants and agriculture that nobody knew the answers to. George set out to find the answers himself by experimenting with his own plants. George was a deeply religious man who believed he had a duty to promote human understanding of the world in which we live.
After graduation, George became a teacher and the Director of Agricultural Work at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He not only taught his students but he started conferences for black farmers on nutrition and the latest agricultural methods. One of the most important things George taught the farmers was crop rotation. If they planted other crops in addition to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, these other crops would replenish the nutrients in the soul that the cotton plants took out. He created a movable school of agriculture to reach the poor farmers living far from the cities or schools in the South.
George Washington Carver became famous for his discoveries regarding plants, soils and better farming. He discovered over one hundred uses for the sweet potato, including soap, coffee and starch. He found three hundred and twenty-‐five uses for peanuts, using them in the manufacturing of paper, ink, shaving cream, sauces, linoleum, shampoo, and milk. The entire country came to know about George and his achievements; he was honored by presidents and received many awards and honorary degrees. He was often so immersed in his work that he would forget to cash the checks people sent to him. George continued his work of teaching others and researching ways to improve agricultural techniques for nearly fifty years until his death in 1943.
George Washington Carver’s life is the remarkable story of a boy who overcame the disadvantages of his childhood to fulfill his mission in life: caring and concern for the earth—and inspiring others to care for it as well.
DISCUSSION 1. What is crop rotation and why is it essential to good farming?
2. What are some other reasons why it is important for farmers to rely on more than one crop to provide their livelihood?
3. Why weren’t blacks allowed into certain universities in the late nineteenth century even though they were freed from slavery?
4. How did George Washington Carver find out the answers to many unanswered questions about plants?
5. What do you think George meant by his quote: “A weed is a flower growing in the wrong place”?
ACTIVITIES
1. Choose a crop such as potatoes, peanuts or corn, and make a list of as many products as possible that are made from that particular crop.
2. Research the Irish potato famine and prepare a report for the class. Give special emphasis on how knowledge of crop rotation might have prevented
this tragedy. 3. Do further research on crop rotation. Find a specific example of a combination of crops that is healthy for the soil. Describe for the class the chemicals each crop puts back into the soil. Draw a diagram illustrating this.
4. Find out how many colleges and universities were open to blacks at about the time George Washington Carver was pursuing his studies.
5. Find out when all the colleges and universities in American became open to people of all races.
Lesson 14
Walt Whitman 1819-‐1892
Oneness
“One man, yet one with all humanity, I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what shall I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to
you.”
“Divine I am inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touched from…”
Walter Whitman, Jr. was born on May 31, 1819 on Long Island, NY. His family had lived on their farm since 1664. When Walt was four, his family moved to Brooklyn, NY. Louisa, his mother, and Walt Sr. were hard working, intelligent parents, who taught their seven children to think for themselves. As a young boy, Walt felt a deep connection with nature and other people. This kinship enabled him to be a keen observer of the world. It helped him to feel sympathy for the plight of the slaves and the Native Americans.
Walt spent many of his childhood days wandering the countryside and observing nature hear his home in Huntington, Long Island in New York. During these sojourns, Walt imagined what it was like to be a bird, a flower, a tree, a blade of grass, a rock or a river. Late in his life he wrote himself, “As a young boy, those things upon which he looked, he became.” Walt Whitman’s capacity to concentrate enabled him to identify with the life experiences of others.
Walt left school at the age of eleven to help with the family business. From that time until he was thirty-‐six, he held many different jobs. Walt was a teacher of
the local farm children, but he was different from the other teachers. He never beat his students as a form of discipline and he enjoyed playing games with them. Walt treated his students as equals and with respect, and they responded with great affection for him. Perhaps it was because his bosses didn’t understand Walt’s unique approach to education that they did not renew his teaching contract and told him to find another job.
The work that had the biggest impact on Walt’s life was that of a journalist. He was involved in printing, publishing and journalism for most of his life. For fifteen years, from 1838 to 1853, Walt Whitman was a writer for several newspapers in the New York area. Then he became an editor for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, an important newspaper at the time. Walt wrote editorials, articles and reviews of operas, plays and books. During those years he spoke with thousands of people in the bustling city of New York. Meeting so many different kinds of people—happy and sad, rich and poor, healthy and sick—helped Walt to formulate his philosophy of life: since everyone was created by the same Creator, everyone must be divine and all human beings must be brothers and sisters. He began to express this philosophy in poetry that was different from any other poetry in America. In 1855, at the age of thirty-‐six, Walt published a revolutionary book of poems called Leaves of Grass. He wrote for the common man in an uncommon way, without flamboyant language and with a plain, basic style that was new to poetry.
Leaves of Grass is considered one of the greatest works of poetry in the English language. It first appeared bearing no publisher or author’s name and consisted of twelve untitled poems and a preface, with a portrait of the author on the cover. Walt published the book himself, and his style, subject matter and even the font used in the printing of his poems were unique. His work was banned in some places, and many publishers refused to print his poems because they were so new and different. In many of them, he was speaking to the poor, the weak and the oppressed. Throughout Leaves of Grass and his later poetry, Walt expressed his vision of an American in which all people were truly united and equal.
In 1861, the American Civil War began. Walt was adamantly against slavery and the division it was bringing to America. Walt’s brother, George, enlisted in the Union army at the start of the war. A year later, Walt left New York for Washington DC to see his recently wounded brother. Walt wrote many poems about the human suffering on both sides of the Civil War. He worked at the government paymaster’s office and became a volunteer nurse, personally tending to wounded soldiers in the military hospitals around Washington DC.
During these years, Walt saw the terrible devastation and human tragedy which war brings. Every day he visited the hospital wards, going from cot to cot to talk with each man, jotting down notes on his note pad. The next day he would come back with fruit, candy, tobacco, stationery and stamps for those who needed them. He would sit by a wounded man’s bed, write a letter for him and use his enthusiasm and energy to encourage the soldier to live.
Army doctors and hundreds of their patients said that it was Walt who helped keep hope alive for the wounded, sick and dying soldiers. He even wrote to the families of soldiers who never returned home. He wrote special poems for the fallen soldiers in unmarked graves, whose names we will never know.
Walt Whitman believed in the oneness of all things and in the unity of America. He was very sad when President Abraham Lincoln was killed—the president who had successfully preserved the Union. He wrote some special poems dedicated to President Lincoln.
Walt spent the rest of his life trying to rebuild American and heal the wounds of war. Through poetry and hard work, Walt continued to spread the message that each person is the special creation of the same Divine Creator.
On the evening of March 26, 1892, Walt Whitman’s lungs failed and he died. He was living in his New Jersey home. He died with few possessions. His great literary talent would not be recognized for many years to come.
DISCUSSION 1. How do you think Walt was able to understand the essential qualities of the things he observed in nature? What must he have done in order to be able to accomplish this? Do you think this is possible for everyone or only for artists
and philosophers with a special genius? 2. During Walt’s brief time as a teacher, he enjoyed playing games with his students and treated them with great respect. What does this tell you about Walt? Why do you think his students treated him with so much affection?
3. Walt Whitman felt great sympathy for the slaves, but he also felt compassion for the confederate soldiers who were wounded or killed. How was it
possible for him to feel sorry for both? 4. Give at least one example of how Walt Whitman lived his philosophy of the oneness of all human beings—rather than just writing about it. Do you think Walt’s poetry would be as meaningful if he had not acted according to his
beliefs?
ACTIVITIES 1. Write a research report on the causes and the resolution of the Civil War. Be
sure to mention the central question of why people in the South felt it was important to maintain the institution of slavery and how this was solved.
2. Go on a field study of a local stream, forest or meadow. Sit in silence with a writing or drawing pad. Record the thoughts and images that come to you from the natural world around you. Do not share these images until you are
back in class and have had time to contemplate your impressions. 3. Visit a local nursing home once a week for 3-‐6 weeks. Use a small tape recorder to record the life story of one older person. Prepare questions
ahead of time. Transcribe the story to present to your class as well as to the older person. At the end of the project bind all the biographies together. Bring enough copies of the biographies to present to all nursing home participants. (The goal of this activity is to foster kinship between
generations and encourage students to see that older people had interesting lives. Meanwhile, the students’ concern for the senior citizens will be
inspiring and uplifting for them.) 4. Find ten examples of Walt Whitman’s philosophy of oneness in his poems. Write down the name of the poem from which each example is taken. Choose
three examples and explain how they express Walt Whitman’s philosophy of oneness.
Lesson 15
Wilma Rudolph 1940-‐1994
Persistence, Patience, Endurance
“We didn’t have too much money back then, but we had everything else, especially love.”
Wilma Rudolph was born into a poor but proud family in Tennessee in 1940. “We didn’t have too much money back then,” Wilma would say, “but we had everything else, especially love.” That love was put to the test when Wilma contracted polio at the age of four. The doctors told her she would never walk again because her leg was partially paralyzed and she had to wear a heavy metal brace. Her mother told her she would walk again. “I believed my mother,” Wilma said. In the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Wilma won three gold medals in the 100 and 200-‐meter dashes and the 4x100-‐meter relay. She was the female star of the Olympics and was named Sportswoman of the Year. She met the Pope and President Kennedy, and received numerous awards and honors.
From the age of six, Wilma and her mother traveled twice each week to Nashville—fifty miles away—to undergo physical therapy for her leg. Every evening her mother would massage Wilma’s crippled leg. Patience, persistence and love defeated the odds. By age ten, Wilma could walk slowly without the brace. When Wilma was twelve, her mother carefully wrapped up the brace and sent it back to the hospital in Nashville.
Wilma plunged into the activities she had only been able to watch for so many years. Her favorite was basketball. In high school, she became a basketball star and was spotted by Ed Temple from Tennessee State University, who coached one of the nation’s top women’s track teams.
At sixteen, Wilma competed in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. She was six feet tall and weight 89 pounds. She lost in her individual races but won a bronze in the women’s 400-‐meter relay race.
Wilma returned to high school determined to improve. During her junior year, Wilma’s best friend was killed in an automobile accident. During her senior year, Wilma and her future husband had a child.
In 1958, at the age of eighteen, Wilma was on a full athletic scholarship at Tennessee State and was one of the most promising athletes in America. She was also a mother. She trained, studied and cared for her child. Less than two years later, she was on the victory stand in Rome.
Wilma retired from competition two years after the Olympics to devote her life to family and the ideals of racial equality and equal opportunities for all. She traveled throughout the world lecturing, teaching and coaching; she also created a non-‐profit organization dedicated to training young athletes.
Wilma Rudolph fearlessly faced and overcame difficult challenges and offered her life to helping others do the same. She passed away in 1994 at the age of fifty-‐four.
DISCUSSION 1. What important role did Wilma’s mother play in her life?
2. Why do you think Wilma’s mother wrapped up the brace and sent it back to the hospital?
3. How did Wilma show patience, persistence and endurance in her life? 4. In her later years, when she was no longer competing, how did Wilma spread
her message of patience, persistence and endurance? 5. Describe a time in your life when you had an opportunity to show patience,
persistence and endurance. 6. Discuss the word “handicap.” Why do you think many people now prefer the
term “physically challenged” instead of the term “handicapped?” 7. Discuss Wilma’s statement: “We didn’t have too much money back then, but
we had everything else, especially love.”
ACTIVITIES 1. Research the disease called polio. Define what it is and describe what it does
to the human body. 2. During recess or P.E. have a “Wilma Rudolph Day” and compete in running events. Instead of determining “winners” and comparing your fastest times with each other, strive to beat your own times. (Give awards to all students
who beat their own times at least once.)
Lesson 16
Harriet Tubman 1820-‐1913
Fearlessness
“I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the tress, and over the
fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.”
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1820. Her parents had been brought to the United States in chains from the Ashanti—a warrior nation in West Africa.
When Harriet was only five, she was rented out as a worker. For the next twenty-‐five years she lived in slavery. By the time she was thirteen, her brothers and sisters had been sold into slavery in the deep South. When she fifteen, she received a head wound from an angry slave overseer; as a result she was in a coma for weeks. She recovered, yet all her life she would suffer from this wound. Harriet often worked with the male slaves cutting wood and doing others kinds of hard labor. She was strong, and by the age of twenty-‐nine she’d had enough of slavery.
Harriet lived ninety miles from freedom. When she learned that she had been sold and going to be sent to the deep South, she decided to attempt to escape—alone. Harriet was told of a local white woman who helped runaways, so she found her way to the woman’s house. Harriet did not know she was starting a journey on the “Underground Railroad.” The woman gave her two slips of paper, each containing the name of a family who would help her on the road northward. These were her tickets to freedom.
On that first journey, Harriet hid in a vegetable wagon and was disguised as a white woman’s slave. The last leg of her journey—ninety miles of swamp and forest—she covered at night, hiding by day.
Over the next eleven years, Harriet made nineteen trips back into slave territory to help others escape through the Underground Railroad. She brought more than three hundred slaves to freedom, risking her life for every one of them.
Because of her role in leading others to freedom, Harriet became known by the name “Moses.” Slave owners put a $12,000 bounty up for her capture. Years later she proudly noted, “I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”
Harriet was a deeply spiritual woman. She knew God was protecting her and she remained fearless, believing that she ventured only where God sent her. She often had prophetic dreams about the future.
Harriet Tubman lived and died without material wealth, yet she possessed the unlimited wealth of the spirit. She lectured against slavery throughout the North. During the Civil War, she worked as a spy going deep into the South to gather information on the Confederate army’s movements. She led a platoon of black soldiers in three steam-‐powered gunboats on a mission which freed eight hundred slaves. After that she joined the women’s rights movement.
In her later years, she established a home for the poor on a twenty-‐five acre patch of land she had bought. It was there—at the age of ninety-‐three—that she died.
DISCUSSION 1. Explain and discuss exactly what the Underground Railroad was.
2. When we hear the word “devotion” we often think of devotion to God. We might also think of a husband being devoted to his wife or vice-‐versa.
However, we can apply devotion to any goal or ideal in our lives. Think of something you have succeeded in and then explain how you devoted yourself
in order to achieve that success. 3. Why would Harriet have been called “Moses” by all of the slaves who saw her
as a hero? What connection was there between what Harriet was doing and what Moses did in biblical times?
4. In addition to being devoted to “a cause larger than herself,” Harriet displayed tremendous courage in her life. Can you find at least one example
of this courage in her story?
ACTIVITIES 1. In small groups, research the abolitionists. Each group should make a list of
ten abolitionists. Include their names, where they were from and what their occupations were. Also indicate what each one specifically did to fight
against slavery. 2. Harriet made nineteen trips to the South. She personally freed at least three
hundred slaves. On average, how many slaves did Harriet free with each trip?
3. Make a list of at least three reasons why you think Harriet Tubman was never caught in all her trips to the South to free slaves. (Use the Heroes story, your
research above and your own imagination.)
Lesson 17
Dorothy Day 1897-‐1980
Following Your Conscience
“The poor who come here (to the Hospitality House) feel there is little they have to offer anyone, and yet they have a lot to offer. The giving and receiving is not only
going in one direction.”
“I just sat there and thought of our Lord Jesus and His visit to us all those centuries ago, and I said to myself that my great luck was to have Him on my mind for so long in
my life!”
Throughout her life, Dorothy Day courageously acted according to her own beliefs, regardless of the consequences she might face. She was arrested and put in jail six times in her life for expressing her beliefs through social actions and civil protests.
As a young journalist in the early 1920s, Dorothy became concerned by the amount of poverty and suffering she saw in New York and in her travels around the country. She was inspired by people she met who were trying to change things by bringing attention to the problems though protests, marches and picket lines. Dorothy herself became an activist—writing, speaking and protesting for the cause of workers and poor people in America.
Dorothy Day was speaking out about America’s problems at a time in this country when speaking out could be dangerous. It was during this era that two men named Saccho and Vanzetti were convicted of spying and put to death. Many people that that Saccho and Vanzetti had done nothing more than fight for the poor and that they were wrongly convicted. The controversial Saccho and Vanzetti incident is an example of this volatile period in America’s history.
In 1927, Dorothy went through a spiritual transformation when her daughter was baptized. Dorothy was baptized and joined the Catholic Church. This change in her life shocked many of her friends, who believed the wealthy Catholic Church did not do enough to help the poor and suffering humanity. However, the reaction of Dorothy’s friends did not change her mind about the way she felt or what she wanted to do.
During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, Dorothy saw the poverty and pain of men and women who aimlessly walked the streets hoping for a job or some food to eat. She wondered why the government and the churches were not doing more to help these people.
“How could so much human suffering continue to be allowed in such a rich and powerful nation as America?” Dorothy asked.
In the Bible, Dorothy read how Jesus had worked with the poor, the sick and the downtrodden. She felt his words were being forgotten in modern times and she made a vow that she was going to try to help the poor as Jesus did.
In 1933, Dorothy Day and her new husband Peter Maurin founded the Catholic Worker Movement and the Catholic Worker Newspaper. Both of these organizations were dedicated to the issues of the poor, the jobless and the homeless people of America. In the newspaper, Dorothy and Peter wrote about how people could find meaning and strength in their lives by following the path of Jesus and doing good works in the world as he had done. Within a few years, the Catholic Worker Newspaper had a circulation of over one hundred fifty thousand copies-‐-‐-‐each copy selling a “penny for a copy”—the same price it costs today.
Dorothy and Peter decided they wanted to do even more. They founded a Hospitality House for men and women who had no other place to go and who had nothing to eat. They rented a small store and an apartment, bought some bread and butter, soup and other supplies, and began serving food to the homeless, finding clothes for them and offering them a place to sleep. They also make a point of sitting with homeless people, trying to converse with them and offer them friendship and attention.
Other people joined to help Dorothy and Peter. In a short time there were over thirty Hospitality Houses in major cities in America. Soon there were Catholic Worker Farms, which grew food for the Hospitality Houses. The ideas of the Hospitality Houses, Farms, and the Catholic Worker Newspaper even spread to other countries. Thousands of people became inspired by Dorothy and her husband joined their efforts. She traveled across the country, living in the Hospitality Houses, teaching and speaking, helping to cook and spending time with people who are commonly referred to as bums or homeless.
Dorothy continued to say her prayers and kept her deep connection to the spirit of Jesus. She worked for the rest of her life as a devout Catholic, but often
spoke about how she felt the church—with so many people and so much money—should do more to help the poor, sick and homeless. She followed her conscience, not only in dedicating her life to helping others, but in speaking the truth “no matter what.”
DISCUSSION 1. Look up the following terms in the dictionary and write down the definition
as they are used in this text: activist, downtrodden, picket line, baptize, vow, circulation, and conscience.
2. Describe one time in your life when your conscience really spoke to you. 3. What happens when people ignore their conscience or pretend it doesn’t
exist? What would happen if everyone in the world listened to their conscience?
4. What are some small steps we can take to act upon the dictates of our conscience and help others in need?
5. Why do you think Dorothy took time to sit and talk with the homeless people instead of simply feeding them and giving them clothes and shelter?
ACTIVITIES
1. Take a field trip to a local Hospitality House. If there isn’t one in your city, then visit a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Conduct short interviews with the staff and/or with the people living at the house or organize a project to help the Hospitality House. For instance, conduct a food drive, have a bake sale to raise money to donate to them, or cook some food and bring it to
them. 2. Invite someone who works with the homeless to come and speak to the
students in the class and to address the many fears, misconceptions and other issues surrounding homeless people.
3. In small groups, do research and report on the Saccho and Vanzetti trial, the Great Depression and the effects these had on American history.
Lesson 18
Abraham Lincoln 1809-‐1865
Honesty, Integrity, and Self-‐Education
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”
“Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition…I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.”
Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809. His father and mother
labored in the fields, living off their own land. Abraham had a sister named Sarah, who was two years older then he was. When he was seven, his family moved to Indiana which, shortly after, became our 19th state. Here, Abraham and his father built a new home and farm.
When Abraham was nine years old, his mother died. On her deathbed, she advised him and Sarah: “Be good and kind to your father, to one another, and to the world.”
Proper schooling was difficult to find so Abraham tried to educate himself. He worked clearing trees or in the fields farming, for 25 cents a day. During lunch, or any time he could, Abraham would read. Friends said that after the age of twelve,
they never saw him without a book in his hands. He enjoyed Shakespeare and the Scottish poet Robert Burns. He also liked to read about the lives of great people, such as George Washington.
Abraham grew to 6’4” tall. He was strong, and he was a good worker, wrestler and runner. When he was only eighteen years old, his sister died while giving birth to her first child.
When Abraham was twenty-‐one, his family moved again, this time to Illinois, where they again built a home and farm. At age twenty-‐two, he left home to make it on his own and took a job in a general store. This job gave him lots of reading time. He joined a local debating society that met once a week.
When the store closed a year later, he decided to run for the Illinois State Legislature. He finished eighth in a field of thirteen. Then Abraham and a friend decided to open their own store. Unfortunately the business failed, his partner died and he was left with a $1100 debt, which he promised to repay. It took him fifteen years, but he did repay it.
To earn money, he worked as a farmhand, a postmaster and a land surveyor. He taught himself surveying through six weeks of independent reading and study.
In 1834, Abraham was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. He was paid three dollars a day. Another representative suggested he study law. Abraham bought used books, studied for three years and passed his law exams when he was twenty-‐eight. Abraham was married at the age of thirty-‐three to Mary Todd. They had four sons, two of whom died in childhood.
Abraham opened his own law office and became one of the most sought-‐after lawyers in Illinois. In 1846, when he was thirty-‐seven, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
In 1855, he lost an election for the U.S. Senate. In 1858, he lost again, but his Republican anti-‐slavery campaign against the pro-‐slavery Democrat Stephen Douglas drew national attention. Their debates were attended by over 15,000 people. Abraham Lincoln had risen to national prominence. He continued to speak publicly and was chosen as the Republican candidate for the presidency in 1860. At the age of fifty-‐two, Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth president of the United States.
During the Civil War, Lincoln was constantly disappointed by his military commanders. He collected a library of books and studied military strategy late into the night. In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which gave freedom to the slaves. He was instrumental in the passing of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution which prohibited slavery in the United States.
After four years and the loss of 600,000 lives, the Union emerged victorious from the war. Lincoln was elected to a second term of office.
President Lincoln was assassinated during the first year of his second term in office while attending the theatre with his wife. He was fifty-‐six years old. A group of black soldiers led his funeral procession.
DISCUSSION
1. At least three times during his life, Abraham Lincoln taught himself a skill. What were those skills? How did he educate himself? What was his
motivation? 2. Education is a lifelong process. Discuss education in terms of what we learn
at school and what we learn elsewhere. 3. Discuss ways of learning subjects not taught in school—for example, hobbies,
skills and special interests. How do people learn music and art?
ACTIVITIES 1. Choose an interest not studied in school. Determine how to learn and explore this interest. What do you need to learn, how will you learn it and
when will you learn it? 2. Take a field trip to the local library. As the librarian to explain how to obtain
books and other information about your special interest.
Lesson 19
Helen Keller 1880-‐1968
Determination
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
“A true soldier does not admit defeat before the battle.”
“Life is a daring adventure, or nothing.”
“Keep your life full of books and work and friends.”
Helen Keller was born on a farm in Alabama in 1880. She could see, hear and
talk to her parents like all little girls of her age. When she was eighteen months old, she got a terrible fever. When the fever passed, little Helen could no longer see nor hear. She quickly forgot the words she had just begun to learn. Helen’s world became darkness and silence. Helen developed sixty signals or gestures to let her parents know what she wanted. But she also expressed her fear and frustration with violent temper tantrums. When she was five years old, her parents felt there was nothing left to do but put their daughter in an insane asylum. Then Helen’s mother read about the Perkins Institute in Boston for blind children.
The Perkins Institute sent Miss Annie Sullivan to teach Helen. Miss Sullivan tried to find a way to communicate with her, and finally a breakthrough came. It was a day Helen described as her “soul’s birthday.” While they held their hands
under rushing water, Miss Sullivan spelled the word “water” in sign language in Helen’s hand. Helen finally understood that everything had a name that could be communicated. On that day, Helen learned thirty words. In the next two months she learned four hundred more. Soon she learned to read braille. Annie Sullivan and books became Helen’s best friends.
Helen loved to travel with Miss Sullivan, for she always wanted to learn more. At home, she rode her horse, Black Beauty, took her dogs for walks and rode a tandem bicycle with friends. She even taught herself to swim by tethering a rope to shore so she could safely find her way back. Helen also rowed a small boat, navigating by smell.
When she was only twelve years old, Helen decided she wanted to go to college. For six years, she studied Latin, Greek, German, French, geography, zoology, biology and mathematics. When she applied to Radcliffe, the president of the college thought it would be too difficult for Helen but she replied, “A true soldier does not admit defeat before the battle.” Helen graduated from Radcliffe with honors.
After graduation, Helen decided she wanted to help others overcome their difficulties. She learned how to speak and began to lecture and write to express her ideas, traveling around the world offering courage and hope to others. During World War II, President Roosevelt asked her to visit injured soldiers in hospitals around the country.
When Helen grew older, she retired to her home in Westport, CT. She rose every morning at five, made herself a simple breakfast and took a long walk on her property. Even after she retired from lecturing, Helen worked six to seven hours a day at her desk. In the evenings, her friends came to visit. Most nights, Helen read herself to sleep. She died in 1968 at the age of eighty-‐seven.
DISCUSSION 1. How different would life be if you could not see? Take a task such as getting
to school and explore the challenges. Do the same for hearing and speech. 2. Explore the emotion of fear. Discuss fear as it pertains to the challenges we
face. How do we react to fear? How did Helen react? 3. What is fearlessness? Most people are afraid of failure. Can we fail and yet learn and grow? Can failure be a learning experience? Can we eliminate fear
from our lives?
ACTIVITIES 1. Make blindfolds out of cloth for yourselves. Put on blindfolds, turn off the lights, reduce sound and don’t talk. This was Helen’s world. Just sit for a few minutes and experience this. Now, allowing only the teacher’s voice, form small circles of 5-‐7 children and hold hands for 2-‐3 minutes. A little touch
can bring such comfort in the dark silence. 2. Learn the American Manual Alphabet. Learn how to say “hello’, “how are
you’, and a few responses.
3. Visit a facility which aids blind or deaf children. (The children’s ability to empathize and interact with those less fortunate than themselves will be
greatly enhanced after the first two activities.)
Lesson 20
Elizabeth Ann Seton 1774-‐1821
Sincerity
“How often have I felt my Soul awakened by Thy Light and warmed by the fire of Thy Love.”
“I renewed my covenant—that I would strive with myself and use every earnest endeavor to serve my deer Redeemer, and to give myself wholly unto Him.”
Elizabeth Bailey Seton, the first American Catholic saint, was born in New
York City in 1774, just two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Her mother died when she was only three years old. She was raised by her father, a college professor, who taught her the importance of good habits and hard work. Although she was surrounded by the comforts of wealth and high society, Elizabeth was never swayed by outward appearances; she learned that the most important thing about people is their inner goodness.
When she was a young girl, Elizabeth had strong religious feelings. Her family belonged to the Protestant Episcopal Church, but as she studied and grew older, she was drawn to Catholicism and its ways of worship. She loved to read the Bible and meditate on the truths she discovered in it. When Elizabeth was twenty, she married William Seton. Even as a young wife with a family and responsibilities,
she took time to visit the poor and sick people of her community in an effort to bring them comfort. She cared not only for her own needs but for the needs of others.
William Seton suffered from poor health. The Setons traveled to Italy in an attempt to find a healing climate for him, but he soon died, leaving Elizabeth a poor young widow with five children. She returned to New York and was ostracized by most of her family and friends. Instead of being defeated by these hardships, Elizabeth tried to understand the meaning behind these events in her life. She came to feel that it was God’s Will. These feelings gave her the hope and faith necessary to face her difficulties. When she was thirty-‐one years old, she decided to convert to Catholicism
Elizabeth moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1809, where she opened a school for young girls. She took her religious vows a year later and was known from that time on as “Mother Seton.” She yearned to help others and embarked on several projects in cooperation with some bishops and priests. She founded the Sisters of Charity, a women’s religious community that eventually established many schools, academies and colleges throughout the United States. In 1812, Mother Seton decided to move the community to Emmitsburg, MD, where it continued to grow.
Mother Seton inspired those around her with her sincerity and love of God. Whatever she did—whether it was creating programs for religious study, translating books from French, offering advice, writing letters or aiding those in need—was done in a spirit of humility and service. She cherished her own children with love and tenderness, and she cared equally for her “daughters” in the community that she founded. Today there are thousands of Sisters of Charity, inspired by Mother Seton’s example, serving those around them with the feeling that all people are God’s children. She died in 1821 at the age of forty-‐seven. In 1963, Mother Seton was the first American-‐born person to be declared a saint.
DISCUSSION 1. What does it tell you about Elizabeth that, even as a young wife with family
responsibilities, she took time to visit the poor and sick of her community? 2. Why do you think Elizabeth may have been ostracized by her family in New
York even though she was a widow with five children? 3. How did Elizabeth find the strength to deal with the situation of losing her
husband and being left with five children? 4. What is sincerity and how did Elizabeth exemplify sincerity in her life?
ACTIVITIES
1. Try to find out how many Sisters of Charity there are in the United States. Make a list of all the states they are found in.
2. Elizabeth did everything “in the spirit of humility and service.” Define what this means. Then decide one thing you are going to do today n the spirit of humility and service. (Make this a theme for the week in your classroom.)
3. Break into groups and create a short play that shows the importance of recognizing whether or not a stranger has “inner goodness of character.”
Lesson 21
Jesse Owens 1913-‐1980
Self-‐Discipline
“Going to your limit, past your limit, is where victory is always found, because it’s victory over yourself.”
“The only victory that counts is the one over yourself.”
Jesse Owens was born in 1913 into a poor family of sharecroppers in
Alabama. He lived with his parents and nine brothers and sisters in a small wooden house that was old and broken down. Jesse’s grandparents had been slaves, and he and his parents lived at a time when people of African descent were incorrectly considered inferior to others.
From the age of six, Jesse used to walk nine miles to school. He loved to fish, swim and run through the hills. At the age of nine, he and his family, hoping for a better life, moved to the big city of Cleveland, Ohio. While attending elementary school, Jesse worked part-‐time sweeping floors, shining shoes, and delivering groceries to help the family.
When he was fourteen, he entered junior high school. During the first week of school he met two very important people. One was Minnie Ruth Solomon, who would one day become his wife and the other was Charles Riley, the school’s track
coach. Jesse joined the track team, but he could not train with the team after school because he had to work. Instead, he woke up at sunrise and met his coach to train before school. His coach taught him to train not just for the next race, but to be the best runner he could. In a short time, Jesse set world records for junior high school students in the long jump and the high jump.
In 1932, when he was eighteen, Jesse tried out for the U.S. Olympic team. He did not qualify for the team, but as a high school senior, he set the world record for high school students in the 220-‐yard dash and tied the world record in the 100-‐meter dash. Universities across the country wanted Jesse to run for them. Jesse decided on Ohio State University in Columbus. In 1935, as a sophomore, Jesse competed at the Big 10 Championships. In front of 12,000 spectators, he broke five world records in five minutes.
The Olympics would take place again in 1936. Jesse had been training for nine years, and he knew he had to be in top shape to qualify. He made the team and in the summer of 1936, the twenty-‐two-‐year-‐old boarded the ship the SS Manhattan for the weeklong trip to Germany and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. At that time, Adolph Hitler and the Nazi political party were in power. They believed that white people of German descent were mentally and physically superior to all other races. At the Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens won four gold medals. He showed the world that he was one of the greatest athletes alive and that—contrary to Adolph Hitler’s message—there is no superior race.
Even though Jesse was welcomed home to America with parades and fanfare, he still had to work hard to make a living. He lectured and wrote about the value of family, religion and hard work. He also endorsed products, became a band leader, formed softball and basketball teams which put on exhibitions around the country and worked for the Ford Motor Company. He opened his own dry cleaning business and worked as a playground director.
Jesse worked very hard to support his family and spread his message. By 1950, he was so sought after, that he formed his own public relations company. He traveled all over Europe as a goodwill ambassador for the U.S. government and received many prestigious awards. President Jimmy Carter gave him the Living Legends Award.
Jesse finally retired at the age of sixty-‐five. Two years later, he died of lung cancer.
DISCUSSION 1. How does Jesse Owens’ life prove that achievements come with hard work?
Give examples from the story to support your answer. 2. Read Jesse’s quote at the beginning of the story. What do you think Jesse meant by “your limit” and “victory over yourself”? Can you give examples
from your own life of when you went beyond your limits? 3. Adolph Hitler taught that white people of German descent were destined to
rule the world. He wanted them to think they were superior to all other people. Hitler refused to honor Jesse Owens when he won four gold medals
at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Why?
4. What is the difference between the discipline imposed upon you by your parents or teacher and self-‐discipline? Give an example of something in your
life that required self-‐discipline.
ACTIVITIES 1. In the modern day Olympic games, they run 100 meters instead of 100 yards.
Calculate which is longer. Run 100 yards or 100 meters with your class. Record the times for each student. Then have each student try to break his or her own record. The rest of the class should encourage the person who is running. Do not compare times to see which student is the fastest. Only count how many students break their own records. Try this activity each
week to see who can break his or her record. 2. Count the different jobs Jesse Owens had during his life. Then survey three
older adults in your family or in your neighborhood. Make a list of all the different jobs they have had in their lives and calculate the average number of jobs. Estimate how many jobs you think you will have in your lifetime.
Will you have more or less than the average you found? Why? 3. Write an essay explaining why you believe that people of all races are equally
good. Give examples of people from various races who achieved significant things in their lives.
Lesson 22
Susan La Fleshe 1865-‐1915
Service
“I cannot see how any credit is due me. I am thankful I’ve been called and permitted to serve. I feel blessed for that privilege above all.”
Susan La Fleshe was born in 1865 on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska.
Her father, Iron Eye, was the chief of the Omaha tribe. In 1854, the Omahas sold six million acres of land to the U.S. government.
They moved onto a reservation of 300,000 acres. Susan’s father knew the Indian ways of life were changing with the expansion of European culture. He urged his people to learn white ways, yet not to lose their own pride and dignity. Susan’s father instilled in his children the importance of helping others.
When Susan was fourteen, she left the reservation and began three years of formal education in the state of New Jersey. She returned to her home for two years and felt great concern for the condition of her people. She taught at the local school and nursed the sick. In 1884, she left for Hampton, VA to continue her education. It was at the Hampton Institute that she decided to become a doctor—a doctor for her people. At age twenty-‐one, she enrolled in the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia and graduated in 1889. Then she returned to the Nebraska prairie to fulfill her dream of helping others. She became the physician of the 1200 Native Americans on the reservation.
She crossed the fifty-‐five-‐square-‐mile reservation on horseback or in a carriage year-‐round. Through rain and shine, sleet and snow, from early morning to late at night, she sacrificed herself for others.
Susan did all she could to help her people. She started a reading room and helped at church and night school. Her life was far from easy. Her husband, with whom she had two children, died of alcoholism after they were married only eleven years. From then on, Susan suffered from terrible headaches.
Susan helped individuals become healthy and worked for the benefit of all Indians. She wrote to lawmakers in Washington about improving the health laws on the reservations and establishing hospitals. She published newspaper articles describing the poor health conditions of her people and traveled to Washington to speak before Senators and Congressional committees.
In 1913, two years before her death, she was able to see the accomplishment of one of her lifelong dreams—a real hospital for her people. She insisted on lots of windows and an open porch with hammocks where patients could recover with the help of what Susan called “nature’s medicine,” fresh air and sunshine.
DISCUSSION 1. Who were the Omahas and where did they live?
2. Who was Susan’s father? 3. List two important things that Susan learned from her father.
4. How old was Susan when she left home to begin her formal education? 5. What is perseverance and how did Susan exemplify it in her life?
6. Describe one time when you showed perseverance in your own life.
ACTIVITIES 1. Break into small groups and have each group find one map of what the United States looked like any time from 1800-‐1900. Have each group locate the land belonging to Native Americans on the map. Reproduce the map on a piece of poster board or art paper using markers, colored pencils or pastels.
Don’t forget to put the date of the map somewhere on your drawing. 2. With the whole class, arrange the maps in chronological order. Compare and
discuss the changes in the maps especially regarding what happened to Native American lands.
3. Each group should choose one Native American tribe. Have the group research the history of that tribe’s interaction with the United States
government. Then write a one to three paragraph summary of history with special emphasis on various treaties between the United States government
and the Native American tribe. 4. Make a list of all Native American words you know. Your list can include names of tribes as well as names of people, states, cities, mountains, rivers,
lakes, etc. 5. Invite a Native American who lives in your area to come to you school and speak to the class about the history of his or her tribe and about the situation
of Native Americans in the United States today.
Lesson 23
You!
Your Potential
You are a significant person on this earth. You have capacities, dreams, hopes and ideas that can be of great benefit to
yourself and the world. All of the heroes we have studied took action. They did something to express
and give life to their ideas. Many people have good ideas or deep feelings. You become a hero when you act upon your thoughts and feelings, because when you act, you create. Creating a better world for yourself, your family, your community, your country, your race or for whomever you care about it is a heroic act.
Become a modern day hero. You have much to offer. PEACE.
DISCUSSION 1. Discuss someone in the community you consider a “hero.” What quality do
they possess? 2. Close your eyes and imagine yourself. What is a special quality you feel in
your life? What do you dream of doing or becoming? 3. Is there something you would like to change in the world, your community,
country or family? What qualities within people would help change the situation? What actions would help?
4. Close your eyes and imagine yourself receiving an award from the community. What is the award for? Discuss.
PLACE YOUR OWN
PHOTOGRAPH HERE!
ACTIVITIES
1. Choose something the class would like to change in the community. How could they help bring about that change? Take action.
2. Close your eyes and imagine yourself helping someone. Who did you help? Why? How did it feel? In the next day or two, really help someone. How
does it feel? 3. Make a poster showing all the things you would like to do or become. Cut out
pictures from magazines or draw a picture of your “dream.” 4. Write an essay about someone you would like to emulate in your life.
5. Write an essay about what you could contribute towards peace in the world.
SUGGESTED READINGS 1. Bruce W. Conrad, Cesar Chavez: Union Leader (New York: Chelsea House
Publishers, 1992) 2. Cathy East Dubowski, Clara Barton, Healing the Wounds (New Jersey: Silver
Burdett Press, 1991) 3. Russell Freedman, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery (New York: Clarion
Books, 1993) 4. Robert D. Richardson Jr., Henry Thoreau, A Life of the Mind (Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1986) 5. Consuelo Rodriguez, Cesar Chavez (New York: Chelsea House Publishers,
1991) 6. Flip Schulke and Penelope McPhee, King Remembered (New York: Pocket
Books, 1986) 7. John W. Selfridge, Thomas Jefferson, The Philosopher President (New York:
Fawcett Columbine, 1991) 8. Henry David Thoreau, Walden or Life in the Woods (1854)
For information or additional references and resources, contact:
Andrew Kutt—Headmaster Oneness-‐Family School 6701 Wisconsin Avenue Chevy Chase, MD 20815 Tel: (310) 652-‐7751 Fax: (301) 652-‐1690
