The Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), although a member of the French aristocracy, fought for liberty and equality for all people. He fought in the American Revolution and in France, and advocated for a constitutional monarchy and human rights. The Marquis also had one of the longest names in history: Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. He earned the nickname “Hero of Two Worlds” because of his significant involvement in both the American and

Mary Seacole (née Grant) (1805–1881) was a pioneering nurse and humanitarian during the Crimean War. She applied to be a nurse in the war with Florence Nightingale, but was rejected. She did it on her own.

The Union gave work or protection to “Contrabands,” enslaved people who fled to the Union lines. A Union military officer in charge determined the freedom of the escapees. Not all enslaved escapees gained freedom.

The Little Rock Nine, a group of nine African American students, began desegregating Arkansas’s Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Despite the danger and daily harassment requiring military guards, the students excelled in life. Melba Pattillo Beals experienced severe harassment and threats at school. She wrote about her struggles in her memoir, “Warriors Don’t Cry.” Once suspended for accidentally spilling chili on white students while being harassed, Minnijean Brown-T

Eliza Jane Cate (1812-1884) began working at the Amoskeag Mill in Manchester, New Hampshire, sometime around 1830. By the 1840s, she had moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, because of higher wages. Her first piece appeared in The Lowell Offering in 1842, entitled “Leisure Hours of the Mill Girls.” Her fellow mill-mate and author, Hariet Hanson Robinson, nicknamed her “the Edgeworth of New England.” Both wrote about everyday life, social dynamics, and moral development. “The Offer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted the takeover of the German Christian Church by imposing Aryan ideas. He served in the Abwehr as a double agent and died for it.

When Harriet Hanson Robinson was 11 years old, the 1836 strike in the Lowell Mills (called a “turnout”) began. She later wrote about the turnout in her autobiography, “Loom and Spindle.” Workers’ wages had been cut, and the twenty-five-cent-a-week contribution toward the women’s boarding had been stopped. These cuts would reduce the $2.00 to $4.00 pay by at least $1 per week. Harriet recalled leaving the factory. The other workers asked what she was going to do. She replied,

Arvid Harnack of the Reich Ministry of Economics and his wife, Mildred, along with Harro Schulze-Boysen of the Reich Aviation Ministry, and his wife, Libertas, started what became the Red Orchestra Resistance. By 1940–41, seven distinct Berlin circles existed. Each circle included around 150 made up of students, artists, journalists, civil servants, and many women. The groups had Communists, Social Democrats, religious dissenters, and liberals. They distributed leaflets, post