Unsung Hero Book Suggestions

 

Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement

Read about more Civil Rights advocates that did their part in improving our society.   The article is  entitled Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement was published in AARP Bulletin Feb/2024. 

Shoulders by Naomi Shihab Nye

Published on Academy of American Poets

Shoulders

We're not going to be able 

to live in this world

If we're not willing to do what he's doing

with one another

Naomi Shihab give voice to her experience as an Arab-Ameican through poetry about heritage and peace.

Susie King Taylor

 Susie Baker King Taylor  was a slave, teacher, nurse and author from Georgia during the Civil War.  She is a testament to black strength in the face of overwhelming odds.  As a young child she was taught how to read and write in an underground secret school even though it was illegal.  In 1862 she fled to Union-occupied St. Solomon Island.  When the Union Army discovered she could read, she was charged with the responsibility of educating other escape slaves, making her the first black teacher to work in an operating Freedmen School.  After teaching freedmen for a year she was sent by Union forces to assist the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops during their Civil War campaign.  For four years she served with the 33rd as a cook, assistant and nurse. Taylor  served four years in the Civil War and never received a penny for her services. After the war she continued her work, briefly opening up a school that taught children and adults.  This week Savannah decided to rename a downtown square after her.

Nanyehi Nancy Ward

Nanyehi Nancy Ward was born to the Cherokee town of Chota, what is now Tennessee in 1738.  In 1752,  she fought against the Creek Nation in a local tribal dispute. For her courage on the battlefield she was awarded a seat alongside the war and peace chiefs.  She was the only woman with a vote in their governing political body.  After marrying an English trader named Bryan Ward,  she settled in South Carolina and raised a family.  Like most tribal communities of the time, the Cherokee Nation was divided over the ongoing conflict with the American Revolution.  Nanyehi was determined to protect and settle any disputes between settlers and natives.  In 1781, she worked to broker a treaty and end the continuous fighting.  She was an advocate for peace and courageous leader.  Nanyehi believed that peace would only come if Native Americans and English settlers saw themselves as one people.  

Chief Standing Bear

Chief Standing Bear, leader of the Ponca tribe, was recently memorialized on a forever stamp.  He was a Native American civil rights hero.  In 1879 Standing Bear was arrested in an effort to bury his son in his Chief's homeland.  While in jail he petitioned a federal court because he was being unlawfully detained.  The United States government argued that he was not entitled to the same constitutional rights as every other citizen.  Standing Bear's lawyers argued the Ponca people were entitled to the same rights as every other citizen citing the fourteenth Amendment.  In a speech before the court, Chief Standing Bear said through an interpreter, "That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both."  The federal judge agreed with Standing Bear ordering the release of Standing Bear and his people.  This stamp is a great tribute to a very brave leader.  

Caroline Ferriday

Caroline Ferriday's humanitarian efforts after WWII are historic and largely unknown.   

During World War II the horrific treatment of the Jewish population in concentration camps claimed the lives of millions. One such concentration camp was Ravensbruck, an all female concentration camp in Germany.   At the camp, a group of women endured brutal medical experiments.  Caroline fought to help the survivors of the Ravensbruck concentration camp by bringing them to America for treatment.  Here is another article that exposes the story of the Rabbits of Ravensbruck and how Caroline Ferriday helped them.  If you are interested in this story I recomend you read historical fiction novel Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly.  

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