The document provides brief biographies of notable figures including Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin, and Mother Teresa. Each section highlights their contributions to society, their philosophies, and key events in their lives. The document emphasizes themes of nonviolence, civil rights, and social activism.

2. • Martin Luther King, Jr. was
born on January 15, 1929, at
his family home in Atlanta,
Georgia. King was an
eloquent Baptist minister
and leader of the civil-rights
movement in America, from
the Mid-1950s until his
death, by assassination, in
1968. King promoted non-
violent means to achieve
civil-rights reform and was
awarded the 1964 Nobel
Peace Prize for his efforts.

3. • King’s grandfather was a Baptist preacher. His father
was pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church.
King earned his own Bachelor of Divinity degree
from Crozier Theological Seminary in 1951, and
earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston
University, in 1955.
• While at seminary, King became joined with
Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent social
protest. On a trip to India in 1959, King met with
followers of Gandhi.

4. • Also in 1963, King led a
massive march on
Washington DC, where
he delivered his now
famous, “I Have A
Dream” speech. King’s
tactics of active
nonviolence had put
civil-rights squarely on
the national agenda.
• On April 4, 1968, King was shot by James Earl Ray while
standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, in Memphis,
Tennessee. He was only 39 at the time of his death. Dr. King
was turning his attention to a nationwide campaign to help
the poor at the time of his assassination.

5. • Nelson Mandela was born in a
small South African village, to a
local chief and his third wife.
He was the first person in his
family to receive a western
education, and was inspired to
study law after witnessing the
democracy of African tribal
governance at an early age.
Mandela became a sought
after lawyer in Johannesburg,
defending black South Africans
against the government’s.

6. • Mandela served 27 years in prison, before his
release in 1990, at the age of 72. He was elected
the first black President of South Africa, in 1994.
• Nelson Mandela is one of the world’s greatest, and
most admired political leaders. He has been
honored with numerous awards, including the
Nobel Peace Prize, for he is a shining example of the
incredible strength of the human spirit to
persevere, in the face of adversity, for the pursuit of
freedom.

7. • Born Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi, on
October 2, 1869, in
Porbandar, Kathiawar, West
India. He studied law in
London, but in 1893 went to
South Africa, where he
spent 20 years opposing
discriminatory legislation
against Indians. In 1914,
Gandhi returned to India,
where he supported the
Home Rule movement, and
became leader of the Indian
National Congress.
His goal was to help poor farmers
and laborers protest oppressive
taxation and discrimination

8. • Even after his death, Gandhi’s commitment to non-
violence and his belief in simple living: making his
own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet, and using
fasts for self-purification as well as a means of
protest— has been a beacon of hope for oppressed
and marginalized people throughout the world.

9. • Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston,
Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706, may,
by his life alone, be the most profound
statement of what an American strives to
be. He attended grammar school at age
eight, but was put to work at ten. He
apprenticed as a printer to his brother
James, who printed the New England
Courant, at age twelve, and published his
first article there, anonymously, in 1721.
• He was selected to the Pennsylvania
Assembly in 1751, and served as an agent
for Pennsylvania to England, France and
several other European powers.

10. • He was the United States first Postmaster General,
Minister to the French Court, Treaty agent and
signer to the peace with Gr. Britain,
• He died on the 17th of April, 1790. On that day he
was still one of the most celebrated characters in
America. Social activist .

11. • Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu,
the future Mother Teresa,
was born on 26 August
1910, in Skopje, Macedonia,
to Albanian heritage. Her
father, a well-respected
local businessman, died
when she was eight years
old, leaving her mother, a
devoutly religious woman,
to open an embroidery and
cloth business to support
the family.