Hope Bios: Cesar Chavez

  Cesar Chavez 

1927 - 1993

Change through Unity

His Calling

American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist. Chavez 

grew up as a migrant worker. Working on the farms was difficult, with

long hours, few bathrooms and little clean water to drink. Farm workers

they were not treated with respect or dignity. They made little money.

Chavez worked in the fields until he was 25, when he became an 

organizer for the Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino 

civil rights group.

His Faith

Chavez was Roman Catholic. Even though his family had little money and sometimes lacked food, their mother would often cook meals for the homeless. They gave other families rides to get medical attention.

Chavez undertook a number of spiritual fasts, promoting the principle of nonviolence, thanksgiving and hope, and to prepare for civil disobedience. Also in 1972, he fasted in response to Arizona’s passage of legislation that prohibited boycotts and strikes by farm workers during the harvest seasons. These fasts were influenced by the Catholic tradition of penance and by Gandhi’s fasting and nonviolence.

His Legacy

Chavez urged Mexican Americans to register and vote, and he traveled throughout California and made speeches in support of workers' rights. His public-relations approach to unionism and nonviolent tactics made the farm workers' struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. 

In 1964, they ended the exploitive Bracero Program, which ensured a constant supply of cheap immigrant labor for growers. (Immigrants could not protest any infringement of their rights, lest they be fired and replaced.) In the early 1970s, the UFW organized strikes and boycotts to protest for, and later win, higher wages for those farm workers who were working for grape and lettuce growers. They gained collective bargaining rights to farm workers. 

What can I do?

• Learn more: Movie: Cesar Chavez. And, our campus library has many books. Try Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa. 
• Take a fast to prepare yourself for understanding and action. Try one day drinking only water and fruit juice. (Consult a doctor if you have special medical needs.)
• Everyday things that come from unjust labor around the world- sugar, coffee, chocolate Look for fair trade labels on these items, or fast from them.
• Contemporary issues: Immigration laws continue to provide cheap undocumented labor in the U.S. but don’t protect the poor families or help them legally immigrate and receive American rights. 
• Contemporary US Issues: read hashtags: #blacklivesmatter #MikeBrown #Ferguson 
• Interview one person this week who has a different background from your own. Ask questions, listen, rather than arguing or correcting them.

Hope Bios: Pandita Ramabai

  Pandita Ramabai

1858 – 1922

Change through Education

Her Calling

Indian social reformer, a champion for the emancipation of women, and a

pioneer in education. Ramabai was also a poet and scholar.

Her Faith

Ramabai’s father believed that women should be educated, based on his 

study of Hindu texts. He educated his wife and daughters. Other scholars 

did not approve, but were later amazed by Ramabai’s speaking and insight.

In 1883, Ramabai received a scholarship to train as a teacher in England. During her time there she converted to Christianity and joined the Anglican Church. In 1886, she was invited to America to study the kindergarten systems in America. When she returned to India, she started Christian churches, homes for the destitute and schools for girls. Ramabai combined her Christian ideals with her Indian culture to promote change in India. She also lectured across America for three years on the plight of women and child widows in India.

She translated the Bible into her native language to help women read the Bible for themselves.

Her Legacy

When her parents died in the 1877 famine, Ramabai and her brother decided to continue their father's work. She and her brother traveled all over India. Ramabai's fame as a lecturer grew. She spoke against the practice of child marriage and the resulting constraints on the lives of child widows. She married a man from a lower caste, a shocking act.

Later on, she traveled extensively to see for herself the plight of many young women and widows condemned to life as temple prostitutes in Northern India. In a lecture given in June 1882, she pronounced, "Men look on us women as chattels: we make every effort to deliver ourselves from this situation. But some will say that this is a rebellion against man, and that to do this is sin. To leave men's evil acts unrebuked and remain unmoved before them is a great sin.” Ramabai’s mission is still active today.

What can I do?

• Learn More: mukti-mission.org, also Pandita Ramabai's American encounter the peoples of the United States is available at our campus online library.
• Do you feel hesitant to share your voice, or have you been stopped by your gender, age, ability, or other reason? Journal about what you’ve learner, your story, and what you want to share with others.
• Volunteer in education, perhaps a local school with underprivileged children. Teachers can use volunteers to help by reading stories or giving homework help.
• Contemporary Indian issues for woman: Rape is a serious problem in India that’s been getting a lot of attention. Yet, misogyny, caste prejudice, poverty and other issues make it difficult to stop rape. Compassion and education are needed.
• Contemporary US Issues: read hashtags: #blacklivesmatter #MikeBrown #Ferguson 
• Interview one person this week who has a different background from your own. Ask questions, listen, rather than arguing or correcting them.

Hope Bios: Queen Liliʻuokalani

  Queen  Liliʻuokalani

1838 – 1917

Change through Politics and Arts

Her Calling

The last Queen of Hawaii ruled 1891-1983. The monarchy had recently lost 

most of its power to a cabinet of American, European, and Hawaiian elites. 

Liliʻuokalani attempted to enact a new constitution to restore the veto 

power to the monarchy and voting rights to native Hawaiians and Asians. 

The U.S. invaded, occupied and overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom government in 1893. They already controlled the sugar industry and had caused financial depression in Hawaii. The Queen didn’t respond with violence, and she made sure the takeover was peaceful. Instead, Liliʻuokalani used writing to share her story with Americans and appeal for justice.

Her Faith

Liliʻuokalani’s grandmother was an early convert to Christianity. She stopped sacrifices to the violent volcano god. As a child, Liliʻuokalani attended school run by Christian missionaries. She believed in a peaceful resistance to injustice, and allowed free practice of religions.

Her Legacy

Liliʻuokalani spent five years under home arrest. She used her musical compositions as a way to express her feelings for her people, her country, and what was happening in the political realm in Hawaii. She played guitar, piano, organ, ukulele and zither, and sang alto. Her writing and musical compositions pled the cause of her people and recorded their history. This included the National Anthem, The Queen's Prayer, her memoirs, Hawaiʻi's Story by Hawaiʻi's Queen, and The Queen's Songbook. She hoped that the history and culture of her people would never be lost.

When she was freed, she made several trips to the United States to protest against the annexation by the United States. (They were not successful; Hawaii became a state in 1959.)

Upon her death, Liliʻuokalani dictated in her will that all of her possessions and properties be sold and the money raised would go to the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children's Trust to help orphaned and indigent children, a fund still active today.

What can I do?

• Learn more: Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen is available at our campus library
• Pray The Queen’s Prayer. Reflect on seeking peace in the midst of sorrow.
• What sort of art do you love? Painting, music, writing? Make a project for social justice and share with the campus. 
• Contemporary Hawaiian issues: Hawaii is a vacation paradise for many Americans, but many native people live in poverty and see little of the profits. Racial tensions divide the state. 
• Contemporary US Issues: read hashtags: #blacklivesmatter #MikeBrown #Ferguson 
• Interview one person this week who has a different background from your own. Ask questions, listen, rather than arguing or correcting them.

Hope Bios: William Wilberforce

  William Wilberforce

1784 – 1812

Change through Politics

His Calling

English politician, Member of Parliament, philanthropist, and a 

leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. 

His Faith

In 1785, Wilberforce became an evangelical Christian, which 

resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform and abolition.

His Legacy

Wilberforce headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade.

The society was highly successful in raising public awareness and support, pioneering techniques such as lobbying, writing pamphlets, holding public meetings, gaining press attention, organizing boycotts and even using a campaign logo, spoke at debating societies and wrote spirited letters to newspapers, periodicals and prominent figures, as well as public letters of support to campaign allies, and they collected hundreds of thousands of signatures. The campaign proved to be the world's first grassroots human rights campaign, in which men and women from different social classes and backgrounds volunteered to end the injustices suffered by others.

Wilberforce worked for twenty-six years for the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire. (This did not free current slaves, but did end the practice of shipping new slaves from Africa.) 

That campaign led to the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire.

What can I do?

• Learn more: Watch a movie with your friends: “Amazing Grace” about the abolitionists in England. Also, watch “The Price of Sugar” about modern slavery in the Dominican Republic. (available on youtube.) 
• What career do you hope to follow? What ways can you fight for justice through your career? Journal, or brainstorm with a friend or teacher on social justice issues.
• Advocate to politicians, sign petitions, vote.
• Contemporary world issues: Nearly 30 million people are modern day slaves. Many are children, and many are sex slaves. Visit ijm.org/theproblem to learn about slavery in the world today.
• Contemporary US Issues: read hashtags: #blacklivesmatter #MikeBrown #Ferguson 

Hope Bios: Martin Luther King Jr.

 Martin Luther King Jr.  

1929 – 1968

Change through Activism

His Calling

American pastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

His Faith

King advanced civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs and the character of Jesus. King was a Baptist pastor.

His Legacy

King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence. In 1965, he and the SCLC helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches and the following year, he took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include poverty and the Vietnam War.

In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated in Tennessee. His death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities. King is remembered with a national holiday, many streets and buildings are named for him, and young children are taught about his work.

What can I do?

▪ Learn more: Watch the movie Selma. Our campus library has many books! Try The Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr in the circulating videos section.

▪ Contemporary issues with racism in America: stop and frisk laws, stand your ground laws, unfair sentencing, disproportionate numbers of black men in jail.

▪ America is a nation of equality, but we often fall short of this ideal. Where have you seen racism in your life?

▪ Activism: talk with your friends and family. Share on social media. Educate yourself.

▪ Contemporary US Issues: read hashtags: #blacklivesmatter

▪ Interview one person this week who has a different background from your own. Ask questions, listen, rather than arguing or correcting them.