Standing Up to Peer Pressure

What is Peer Pressure? Social pressure by members of one's peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted. Pressure from one's peers to behave in a manner similar or acceptable to them. The social influence a peer group exerts on its individual members, as each member attempts to conform to the expectations of the group.

Many people throughout the history of the world have been brave enough to stand up for what they know is right regardless of what the general public opinion is. These people have fought for equal treatment of all people at the risk of personal safety and personal gains.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Rosa Park Harriet Tubman Miep Gies Martin Luther King Jr. John F. Kennedy GhandiAbraham Lincoln Click on the photo to learn more… When completed, click here for review

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty- five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles.

He directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream“. He conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times. “A right delayed is a right denied.”

He was awarded five honorary degrees. He was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in He became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

16 th President of the United States of America. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds...” taken from Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years. His law partner said of him, "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest."

Lincoln became friends with a slave named Fredrick Douglass at a time when white people did not associate with black people. Lincoln cared more about the character of a man than the color of his skin. Lincoln saw first hand the trials and tribulations of the slaves as he worked on his family’s farm.

Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama to James McCauley, a carpenter, and Leona McCauley, a teacher. At the age of 11 she enrolled in the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, a private school founded by liberal-minded women from the northern United States. The school's philosophy of self-worth was consistent with Leona McCauley's advice to "take advantage of the opportunities, no matter how few they were."

An unknown seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her lonely act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere. “Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way. “

Born: c. 1820, Dorchester County, Maryland Died: March 10, 1913, Auburn, New York Tubman made 19 trips to Maryland and helped 300 people to freedom. During these dangerous journeys she helped rescue members of her own family, including her 70-year-old parents. At one point, rewards for Tubman's capture totaled $40,000. Yet, she was never captured and never failed to deliver her "passengers" to safety

Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave from Maryland who became known as the "Moses of her people." Over the course of 10 years, and at great personal risk, she led hundreds of slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, a secret network of safe houses where runaway slaves could stay on their journey north to freedom. She later became a leader in the abolitionist movement, and during the Civil War she was a spy for the federal forces in South Carolina as well as a nurse. What was it like on the Underground Railroad? What was it like on the Underground Railroad “I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.”

Miep Gies Miep Gies was born with the name Hermine Santrouschitz in 1909 in Vienna, Austria. An Austrian Christian, she had to leave her family for economic reasons. She was sent to Leiden, Holland, as part of a relief program to help malnourished children. She lived there with a "host family," whom she grew to love very much. They gave her the name Miep, feeling Hermine was too formal. In 1922, she moved with her adopted family to Amsterdam. In 1933, Miep herd about an opening for a job as an office assistant for Otto Frank, a gentleman who had just moved to Amsterdam. Miep took the job and becomes good friends with Otto, his wife Edith, and their daughters, Margot and Anne.

Miep Gies continued… "I am not a hero. I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did or more—much more—during those dark and terrible times years ago...“ Miep is credited for hiding and caring for Anne Frank and her family. Miep gave Anne the diary as a gift and latter found the diary after Anne and her family were sent to concentration camps run by the Nazis. Interview "It is always better to try than to do nothing, because not trying secures complete failure."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton When Elizabeth Cady married abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton in 1840, she'd already observed enough about the legal relationships between men and women to insist that the word obey be dropped from the ceremony. An active abolitionist herself, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was outraged when the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London, also in 1840, denied official standing to women delegates.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton In 1848, she and Mott called for a women's rights convention to be held in Seneca Falls, New York. That convention, and the Declaration of Sentiments written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton which was approved there, is credited with initiating the long struggle towards women's rights and woman suffrage. “It requires philosophy and heroism to rise above the opinion of the wise men of all nations and races”.

Ghandi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. He became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the 1900's. GandhiJi helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, and is honored by Indians as the father of the Indian Nation.

Ghandi continued…… The Indian people called Gandhiji 'Mahatma‘, meaning Great Soul. Gandhi studied law in London and returned to India in 1891 to practice. In 1893 he took on a one-year contract to do legal work in South Africa.

Ghandi continued…………. When he attempted to claim his rights as a British subject he was abused, and soon saw that all Indians suffered similar treatment. Gandhi stayed in South Africa for 21 years working to secure rights for Indian people.

Ghandi continued…….. Gandhi shaped India's history up to its independence in 1947 In South Africa, he took part in passive protests against the Transvaal government's treatment of Indian settlers who were in the minority in the region. He was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who could not forgive Gandhi for his belief that Muslims had equal value to Hindus and no-one was better than anybody else. “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

Youngest President in History. Elected as the 35 th President of United States of America. Kennedy was created for living a life of service and delivered the famous line, "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country” at his Inaugural Address.

On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling. In September 1962, James Meredith applied to a white-only college (the University of Mississippi) to earn a doctorate. He was turned down. Here was a man who had served in the US Air Force for 10 years being rejected because of his color. To maintain law and order, something the state government could not do, John Kennedy federalized the Mississippi National Guard and sent federal troops to the university. Meredith did enroll to the university. Because of these events Kennedy proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of “A child miseducated is a child lost.”

People in History Famous Speeches Actions vs. Words Famous Quotes Before or After When completed click here!

Before or After for 100 Q: Lincoln was President before or after Kennedy?

Before or After for 100 A: Before

Before or After for 200 Q: Martin Luther King Jr. led the March On Washington before or after Kennedy proposed civil rights legislation?

Before or After for 200 A: After---The March on Washington occurred the same year, just later in the year, after Kennedy proposed Civil Rights legislation. The March was held on held on August 28th, Kennedy proposed the legislation in June.

Before or After for 300 Q:Ghandi died before or after India gained independence for Britain.

Before or After for 300 A: Ghandi was killed after India gained independence. August 15 th, 1947-India gained independence January 30 th, Ghandi was killed

Before or After for 400 Q: Which was delivered first? Gettysburg Address Or The Emancipation Proclamation

Before or After for 400 A: Emancipation Proclamation- Jan 1, 1863 Gettysburg Address- November 19, 1863

Actions Vs. Words for 400 Q: Miep Gies not only said she felt the persecution of the Jews was evil, but she did this as well.

Actions Vs. Words for 400 A: Hid Anne Frank and her family from Nazi persecution.

Actions Vs. Words for 100 Q: Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed by doing this.

Actions Vs. Words for 100 A: Refused to give up her seat on the bus and would not move to the back where “the colored people belonged”. Her simple action led to a boycott of the bussing system by many. Many black women followed in Rosa’s example and refused to give up their seats. The result was numerous arrest.

Actions Vs. Words for 300 Q: Ghandi’s peaceful protest resulted in this.

Actions Vs. Words for 300 A: India’s independence.

Actions Vs. Words for 200 Q: Kennedy exercised his power as President by doing.

Actions Vs. Words for 200 A: Sending National Guard troops to two separate Universities after they would not allow Black people to attend.

Famous Quotes for 100 Q: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Famous Quotes for 100 A: John F. Kennedy at Inaugural Address

Famous Quotes for 200 Q: "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest."

Famous Quotes for 200 A: Spoken about Abraham Lincoln by his law partner prior to his election.

Famous Quotes for 400 Q: “A right delayed is a right denied.” This was said by who?

Famous Quotes for 400 A: Martin Luther King Jr.

Famous Quotes for 300 Q: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Famous Quotes for 300 A: Ghandi

People in History for 10 0 Q: This woman was credited for preserving the Diary of Anne Frank so the world would know the evil that occurred and the family she hid.

People in History 100 A: Who is Miep Gies?

People in History for 200 Q: Women of today have this woman to thank for her efforts to gain voting rights for all woman.

People in History for 200 A: Who is Elizabeth Cady Stanton?

People in History for 300 Q: This woman is credited for leading many slaves to freedom in the North on the Underground railroad.

People in History for 300 A: Harriet Tubman

People in History for 400 Q: This person was credited for using peacefully passive techniques to protest inhumane treatment of oppressed people.

People in History for 400 A: Ghandi

Famous Speeches for 100 Q: “I have a dream” was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. to address what social issue?

Famous Speeches for 100 A: Segregation and Discrimination

Famous Speeches for 200 Q: This famous speech was given in Pennsylvania and declared the men who fought bravely should be honored and the nation should forever remember the sacrifices that were made for the sake of ending slavery.

Famous Speeches for 200 A: The Gettysburg Address given by President Abraham Lincoln.

Famous Speeches for 300 Q: This former president addressed the nation about the future proposed civil rights legislation after what occurred at a two separate US universities?

Famous Speeches for 300 A: African American students were denied admission based on the color of their skin alone. JFK mobilized the national guard to ensure they had the ability to enroll.

Famous Speeches for 400 Q: The Declaration of Sentiments was written and delivered by this women at the convention in Seneca Fall, New York.

Famous Speeches for 400 A: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Summing it Up! NamePlace of BirthContribution Rosa ParksAlabama Actions began the bus boycott and helped to end segregation on public transportation system. Martin Luther King Jr.Georgia Instrumental in Civil Rights Movement. John F. KennedyMassachusetts Used his power to begin Civil Rights legislation. Abraham LincolnKentucky Ended slavery and united the North and South Miep GiesVienna, Austria Hid Anne Franks and her family from the Nazis. Gave Anne Frank her journal and saved it from being destroyed. Harriet TubmanMaryland Led hundreds of slaves to freedom on the Underground railroad. GhandiPorbandar, India Peacefully protested and led the people of India in gaining their independence. Elizabeth Cady StantonNew York Instrumental in leading women to vocalizing for their voting rights.

What will your contribution be? How will you stand up to peer pressure?