Human Rights

This series of messages look at individuals who exhibited extraordinary contributions to how we treat others humanely.

    • A Reviled Public Servant

      John C. Underwood was born in 1809 in New York. He was a graduate of Hamilton College and began his teaching career in what is now West Virginia. One of his students was Thomas Jackson (later to be known as Stonewall). After two years, he returned to New York to earn...

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    • The Slayer of Jim Crow

      Charles Houston was born in Washington DC in 1895. He was the grandchild of a former slave and the son of an attorney. He graduated from high school at the age of 15 and from Amherst at the age of 20. He was the college valedictorian and the only African American...

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    • Persistence and Progress

      Charles Sherrod was born in Virginia in 1937. He never knew his father and was raised by his grandmother. He was deeply religious and began preaching to his friends at a young age. His religious faith gave him his purpose in life. Charles was an outstanding student...

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    • Son of a Slave

      Daniel Smith died on October 19, 2022. (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daniel-smith-son-of-virginia-slave-dies-age-90-lifetime-of-activism/) He was 90 and one of the last Americans who was born to a parent who had been a slave. His father was 70 when Daniel was born....

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    • Segregation is Per Se Unequal

      J. Waties Waring was born in South Carolina in 1880. He graduated from the University of Charleston with a Bachelor’s degree in 1900 and passed the bar exam in 1901. He had a legal career in private practice and then served for years as the city attorney for the City...

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    • Blinded by Justice

      Isaac Woodard was born in 1919 in South Carolina. He enlisted in the Army during World War II and served in the Pacific Theatre. He received a promotion to Sergeant and received a Battle Star. As he was returning home from the war, the bus he was riding on stopped in...

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    • The Courtroom Hero for Civil Rights

      Solomon Seay was born in 1931 in the heart of the Jim Crow south. His father was a minister who moved around the south. Solomon graduated from Livingston College and returned to Alabama to study law. At the time, Alabama chose not to integrate its law schools and paid...

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    • The Platform Builder

      A. Philip Randolph was born in Florida in 1889 to parents who were proud of their African American heritage. Philip and his brother were both excellent students, and Philip was the valedictorian of his high school class. Philip had hoped to become an actor but gave up...

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    • Behind the Scenes for Civil Rights

      Jo Ann Robinson was born in 1912 in Georgia to parents who were farmers. She was the 12th child born to her parents. Her father died when she was 6. Jo Ann was the valedictorian of her high school class and went on to earn a degree from Fort Valley State College....

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    • Pioneers in Desegregation of Schools

      Gonzalo Mendez came to America from Mexico and married Felicitas Mendez, a native of Puerto Rico. They rented a farm from a Japanese family who had been sent to an internment camp. There was widely practiced discrimination against Hispanics, especially in the school...

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