This document provides an introduction and overview for a research paper assignment on influential individuals who have positively changed the world. It lists potential research subjects and provides brief biographies and historical contexts for some of them. The document discusses movements and events like the Abolitionist movement, Apartheid in South Africa, the Holocaust, the American Civil Rights movement, and more. It aims to help students choose a research subject and understand the time period and impact of their work.

1. Introduction to Research Paper

2. Purpose
• Students will write a comprehensive research
essay on a person who has made a positive
change in the world.

3. People
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Harriet Tubman
Frederick Douglass
Gandhi
Nelson Mandela
Chinua Sugihara
Elie Wiesel
Oskar Schindlar
Martin Luther King
Rosa Parks
Jackie Robinson
Roberto Clemente
Caesar Chavez
Jane Goodall
Temple Grandin
• Each one of these individuals has
change the world through their
actions.
• Your purpose in writing your
paper is to explain what change
they made and how it has
impacted the world we live in
today.

4. Historical Context
• Everyone is influenced by the time period they
live in. We dress, speak, and act a certain way
because of the time period that we live in.
• The same is true for the people that you will
write your paper about.
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Abolitionist Movement
Apartheid
World War II/ Holocaust
American Civil Rights Movement
Labor/ Immigration Movement

5. Abolitionist Movement
• Started to become popular in the 1830’s
because of the “Second Great Awakening” (a
religious movement)
• Abolitionists wanted the immediate
emancipation (freedom) and the end of racial
discrimination and segregation
• The movement contributed to the tensions
between North and South which led to the
American Civil War (1861-1865)

6. Famous Abolitionists
• Sojourner Truth
• Harriet Beecher Stowe
• John Brown
• Harriet Tubman
• Frederick Douglass

7. Harriet Tubman
1820-1913
Conductor on the “Underground
Railroad” – a secret system developed
to help slaves escape from the South
Born into slavery. She escaped
and helped more than 300 slaves
Escape to freedom.
In her lifetime she was a Civil War Nurse,
Suffragist, and Civil Rights Activist
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember you have within you
the strength, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

8. Frederick Douglass
1818-1895
“People might not get all they work for in this world,
but they most certainly work for what they get.”
He was responsible
for the Emancipation
Proclamation
African-American
Social
Reformer, orator, and
statesman
He was taught to read by a slave owner’s wife
Then he taught other slaves to read
He was a born into slavery, sold
Several times.
Believed in equal rights
Of all people

9. Apartheid
• A system of racial segregation in South Africa
enforced by law
• Began in 1948 and ended in 1994
• The rights of the majority black population
was limited by the Afrikaner (white) minority
• Legislation classified people into four racial
groups: “black”, “white”, “coloured”, and
“Indian” – both Indian and coloured were
further divided into sub classification

10. Apartheid (cont.)
• Between 1960-1983 – 3.5 million non-white
South Africans were moved into segregated
residential areas
• 1970 non-white representation was abolished
• Black people were derived of their South African
citizenship
• Education, medical care, beaches, and other
public services were segregated
• In the 1980’s opposition became stronger and by
1990 negotiations began which would bring an
end to Apartheid. Th

11. Mahatma Gandhi
1869-1948
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you
Then they fight, then you win.”
Fought for :
Ending poverty
Women’s rights
Building religious and ethnic
equality
Ending “untouchability”
Obtaining independence
from England
Used non-violent disobedience
to gain independence and inspired
Civil rights movements around the world
Began his civil –disobedience
In South Africa as a lawyer

12. Nelson Mandela
1918-2013
“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of
us will have to pass through the Valley of the Shadow of Death again and
again before we reach the mountain top of our desires.”
Anti-Apartheid
revolutionary, pol
itician, philanthro
pist, and first
black
President of
South Africa

13. World War II:
The Holocaust
• 1930’s-1945 – Germany, Poland, Czech
Republic, Russia, Lithuania and German
Occupied states
• The mass murder or genocide of
approximately 6 million Jews during WWII
• State sponsored murder by the Nazi party
throughout Germany and German occupied
territories

14. Chiune Sughihara
1900-1986
He helped thousands
Of Jews leave Lithuania
By issuing visas to Jewish
Refugees so they could
Travel to Japan
“Do what is right because it is right, and leave it alone.”

15. Elie Wiesel
1928-present
Won the Nobel Prize in 1986
Author of 57 books
Including Night
“There may be time when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

16. Oskar Schindler
1908-1974
“I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system.”

17. American Civil Rights Movement
• 1955-1966
• Social movements in the United States whose
goal was to end racial segregation and
discrimination against black Americans and
enforce voting rights to them
• Campaigns of civil resistance consisting of
non-violent protest and civil disobedience

18. Key Civil Rights Events
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Brown vs. Board of Education
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Desegregating Little Rock Central High School
Sit-ins
Freedom Rides
March on Washington – “I Have a Dream
Speech”
• Selma and Voting Rights Act

20. Rosa Parks
1913-2005
Best known for refusing to move her seat on a segregated bus

21. Martin Luther King
1929-1968
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do
that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

22. Jackie Robinson
1919-1972
Involved in the American Civil Rights Movement
“I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I
ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

23. Roberto Clemente
1934-1972
Civil Rights activist
“If you have a chance to accomplish something
that will make things better for people coming
behind you, and you don't do that, you are
wasting your time on this earth.”

24. American Labor Movement
• Started in the 1800’s
• A movement to improve working conditions
for American workers
• Created organized labor unions
– AFL-CIO

25. Cesar Chavez
1927-1993
“Students must have initiative; they
should not be mere imitators. They must
learn to think and act for themselves and be free.”

26. Jane Goodall and Temple Grandin
Anthropologist and Environmentalist
Normal people have an incredible lack of
empathy. They have good emotional
empathy, but they don't have much
empathy for the autistic kid who is
screaming at the baseball game because he
can't stand the sensory overload. Or the
autistic kid having a meltdown in the
school cafeteria because there's too much
stimulation.
“Change happens by listening and then
starting a dialogue with the people who are
doing something you don't believe is right.”
Animal Rights and Autsim
Awareness activist