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Martin Luther King Jr was one of America’s most influential civil rights activists. His passionate, but non-violent protests, helped to raise awareness of racial inequalities in America, leading to significant political change. Martin Luther King was also an eloquent orator who captured the imagination and hearts of people, both black and white. Martin was a Christian minister
In 1964, Ali failed the Armed Forces qualifying test because his writing and spelling skills were inadequate. However, in early 1966, the tests were revised and Ali was reclassified 1A. He refused to serve in the United States Army during the Vietnam War as a conscientious objector, because “War is against the teachings of the Holy Koran. I’m not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don’t take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers.”
At age 20, Malala Yousafzai is one of the most accomplished and most celebrated people in the world.
Five years ago, she was shot by the Taliban in her native Pakistan for defying the ban against women going to school. Since then, she has won the Nobel Peace Prize, traveled all over the world, authored two books, and started studying at Oxford University.
Below, we rounded up some of the highlights of Yousafzai's incredible life.
Malala Yousafzai is 20 years old. She is a Pakistani activist, an author, and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yousafzai began studying at Oxford University in October 2017. She will study philosophy, politics, and economics. Source
Abrahamic alternatives to war: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives on just peacemaking
Betty Williams
Born: 22 May 1943, Belfast, Northern Ireland
In 1976, three innocent children were killed in a shooting incident in Belfast. The housewife and secretary Betty Williams witnessed the tragedy. She decided to launch an appeal against the meaningless use of violence in the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Betty was joined by the dead children's aunt, Mairead Corrigan, and together they founded the peace organization the Community of Peace People.
Betty Williams had a Protestant father and Catholic mother, a family background from which she derived religious tolerance and a breadth of vision that motivated her to work for peace. Early in the 1970s she joined an anti-violence campaign headed by a Protestant priest, before she threw herself with full force into grass-root activities for the Peace People. By setting up local peace groups comprising former opponents who undertook confidence-building measures, they hoped to set a peace process in motion from below.
The Northern Irish peace movement disintegrated in the course of 1978. This was due both to internal disagreements and to the spreading of malicious rumors by Catholic and Protestant extremists.
This is the letter that a 10 year old Samantha Smith from Manchester, Main wrote to Communist Leader, Yuri Andropov:
Dear Mr. Andropov,
My name is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren’t please tell me how you are going to help to not have a war. This question you do not have to answer, but I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country. God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight.
Sincerely, Samantha Smith
This letter was published in the Soviet Newspaper, Pravda. She received a response from Andropov in 1983. Andropov personally invited Smith to Moscow to meet with him and discover the life in Soviet Union for herself. Although Smith did not meet with Andropov personally, she spoke with him on the phone. She did visit Moscow and was applauded for her peacemaking efforts. Her peacemaking efforts were cut short when Andropov fell ill and when she tragically died in a plane crash with her father at the age of 13. She serves as an inspiration to all teenagers wishing to do their effort to improve the Quality of Life in this world.
“Samantha’s Letter”. www.SamanthaSmith.Info. Retrieved 2008-03-03,