Winston Churchill

                                                             
                                                           Source: Wikimedia Commons


Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, eldest son of Randolph Churchill and Jennie Jerome, was born on 30th November, 1874 in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock. During his childhood, Churchill proved to be an independent and rebellious student, he grew up to become a British politician, an author, and a painter. Churchill was known for his refusal to consider defeat to Hitler whose plan was to control Europe "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end", he was known also for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Hitler gained power in Germany in 1933, him and the Nazi Party wanted to take over Europe and defeat France and Britain.


He held many political positions, including being Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55).


Churchill was particularly noted for the radio broadcasts he took part in and the speeches and lectures he gave, in 1931, he held a lecture tour around the United States. He was a writer and received the Nobel Prize in Literature and was considered an Honorary Citizen of the USA. Winston Churchill is widely considered as being one of the most influential characters in British history.


In his own words: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." ... "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." ... Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." ... "You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory there is no survival."

                                                            Source: Wikimedia Commons


Before the start of world war one, he married Clementine, on 12 September 1908. Clementine is the daughter of Sir Henry Hozier and Lady Blanche.


Moreover, Churchill had made several changes to the prison system, he had added the concerts program for prisoners and had worked to set up a special after-care associations system to keep helping convicts after they had served their imprisonment time.


He took some time off the politics and wrote several books over the years, including: The Story of the Malakand Field Force(1898), The River War (1899) [both were written while he was still in the army], Savrola (1900), Lord Randolph Churchill (1906) [the biography of his father], The World Crisis (1923-29 a 4 volumes of the World War One and 6 volumes of the World War Two that were published between 1948 and 1953/54), The Dawn of Liberation (1945), and Victory (1946).


During the first few months of 1941, Winston had a small heart attack, on a visit to the USA. In 1943, the health problem seemed to get bigger (he had another heart attack). In 1946, on another visit to the USA, he made his famous Iron Curtain speech at Fulton, Missouri. 7 years later, in June 1953, he suffered from a series of strokes while at his office. Then at the age of 90, on January 24th 1965, Churchill died from the effects of a sever stroke from which he suffered 9 days earlier.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela has achieved his dream of equality for all South Africans, against overwhelming odds. His goals were to cut racism, poverty and inequality.


"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. "


Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Transkei, a small South African village to the name Rolihlahla, his mother is Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela who was "Chief Henry Mandela" of the Tembu Tribe. At the age of 7, he began his British Education, and his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson. After his father died in 1927 he was sent to Mqhekezweni where he grew his leadership skills attending counselings and tribe meetings. He was then sent to get his high education of the LLB at the University of Witwatersrand. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies.


He joined the ANC, becoming one of the founders of its Youth League, he was later on elected president of the Transvaal ANC branch and so on used to oversee the Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, ( in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo opened the first black law firm in South Africa, called 'Mandela and Tambo'), he was repeatedly arrested along with others for engaging in activities against the government.


As mentioned on nelson mandela's website, on 11 January 1962 using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Nelson Mandela left South Africa secretly. He traveled around Africa and visited England to gain support for the armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip. He was charged with leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike.

While facing the death penalty, his words to the court at the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on 20 April 1964 became immortalized:
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

The next day, him and other protesters were sentenced to life imprisonment. During his time in, his mother died in 1968, the next year his oldest son passed away too. Nelson was not allowed to attend the funerals.

On Sunday 11 February 1990, Mendela was resealed from jail, that was about nine days after the ANC was unbanned. During his years in, he had rejected three conditional offers of release. Nelson Mandela's reputation grew hugely. He was widely known as a powerful leader in South Africa. He, more than once, refused to compromise his political position and opinion for his freedom.


Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990 from jail. After his release, he went back to working on the goals he had set up years ago. Mendela was elected President of South Africa, from 1994 to 1999, it was for the first time, a fully representative, multiracial election.

Martin Luther King

A non violent protester who is probably number one on the 'people who made a difference' list, an inspirational speaker, a human rights activist and a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.



" I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood"

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, USA on 15 January 1929 to the name Michael but later on he changed it to Martin in honor of Martin Luther, a German Protestant religious leader. Martin had one older sister, and a younger brother. The 3 children grew up in a secure and loving environment, his family was engaged in the African-American baptist church, his father along with his grandfather were both pastors. He fought for racial equality in the USA. He graduated from Morehouse College in his hometown Atlanta, then went to Boston University where he came to realize the vast inequality between white and black people in America. Later on in his twenties, 24 to be specific, he married Coretta Scott, and became a priest, following the family's road, at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.


On 5 December 1955, Rosa Parks another human rights activist, started an Alabama Bus Boycott and King promoted and organised a strike where colored people stopped using the city buses.. At that time, the priority in those buses was for the whites, black people had to go sit at the back of the bus.

A picture of both Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks together, source Wikimedia Commons


After that incident, Martin Luther King became an inspirational speaker, influenced by Gandhi's non violent movements.. he, too, wanted to make a change. He had the capacity to move and change the mentality of his listener, he was always respectful and on point. King also was one of the founders of (SCLC), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. His speeches were mainly about living respectfully hand in hand, the Time Magazine even named him the man of the year in 1963, and a year after that (at the age of thirty-five) he was given the Nobel Peace Prize of $54,123 for his hard work for the racial equality and social justice cause, along with other honors. King gave lectures all over the United States on race-related problems.


He is well known for his 'I have a dream speech' by which we started this blog (King made that speech on a March on Washington which he organised in 1963), and his 'I've been to the mountain top' speech. In fact, that was his last one, Martin Luther King was assassinated the day after that while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th 1968. King is a national icon in the history of American progressivism. King had an immense impact on race relations in the United States, a memorial statue on the National Mall was opened to the public in 2011.