Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy, commonly known by his initials RFK, was an American politician from Massachusetts. He served as the United States junior senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968.  He was born November 20, 1925 in Brookline Massachusetts. In front of New York Court State Supreme Court building at Montague and Courts Street there is a monument in the honor of RFK. This sculptor was dedicated on November 2, 1972. He was a committed advocate of the poor and racial minorities and opposed escalation of the Vietnam War. After Kennedy was appointed attorney general he fought organized crime and worked for civil rights for African Americans and the minority community.

Robert wrote five books and many other publications on politics and various issues that were confronting his nation and his generation. He also founded the Bedford-Stuyvesant Corporation to rebuild one of New York City’s worst ghettos. His final achievements during his life was the winning  of five presidential primaries all of which were southern states whose opinions of RFK were famously hateful. In 1978 he received posthumously the Gold Medal of Honor. After his death multiple organisations  were formed and roads, public schools and other facilities across the U.S. were named in his memory.

This is a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. of which I took in Washington D.C. King was a well-known civil rights activist who fought to end legal segregation and the many injustice inflicted upon black people. He was born on January 15^th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.  In his childhood, he actively took part in a small Baptist church owned by his father. Here he delivered many speeches and eventually took it over when his father died.  He went to a segregated high school and then went on to get a college degree at Morehouse college.  Then he won a fellowship and went to Boston University where he obtained a degree in 1955. In Boston, he married Coretta Scott and became the pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was always a strong activist for the civil rights of black people. He leads a bus boycott to fight against segregation in public buses. On December 21,1956, the Supreme Court of the United States had declared it unconstitutional for segregation to be allowed on buses. This was one of his many first big victories in the political world. He continued down on his civil right path and in 1957 was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He borrowed many the techniques of another prominent civil right activist named Gandhi who was from India. During his time as the president he travelled to many places and spoke to hundreds of people about his cause. He would appear wherever there was civil unrest. He even wrote books on the issue of civil rights. He was the youngest man to have won the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of thirty-five. On April 4^th, 1968, he was assassinated while at a motel room in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a great individual whose achievements will never be forgotten. He had fought and won many civil liberties for the black community and was a man of integrity. He came from a religious upbringing and throughout most of his life he had advocate for fair treatment of all and tried his best to improve the lives of his community. As a result of his efforts he had changed America for the better. He has helped to put an end to legal segregation and gave colored youth a better chance in society. He was a great activist and his commemoration is duly deserved.

Citation: Martin Luther King Jr., Nobelprize.org, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html (last visited Apr 30, 2017).

This is a picture of Abraham Lincoln in which I took at Washington D.C. Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. In 1861, he issued the emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery. During his presidency, there was a great civil war in the country. The South wanted to secede from the North and it was up to Lincoln to find a way to calm the turmoil. To my surprise, he was the son of an undistinguished family. During his early age, he worked in a farm and he learned how to read and write. When he became older he did not know much about the world but he had a drive for knowledge and constantly pursue knowledge whenever he was able. As president, he worked towards making the Republican party stronger and more organized. Upon the union victory in the civil war he quickly made efforts to rebuild the country and reunited the North and Southern states. The reconstruction era as it was now called began to move smoothly until on April 14th, 1865 Lincoln was assassinated and all hopes for a peacefully union between the North and Southern states came to a quick end.

Abraham Lincoln was an amazing individual. He came from meager backgrounds, but his love for knowledge and learning quickly made him became the person that he was in the later parts of his life. He went from a farm hand to becoming the 16th president of the United States! I am inspired by him and his achievements. I to love to learn new things daily and by seeing how much we have in common I am excited to see what the future has in-stored for me. Abraham Lincoln did many revolutionary things in his time such as releasing people from their bondage and help set in motion the plans for the reunion between a country that was at the time split. For these reasons, I strongly believe that his commemoration was well deserved!

Citation: Abraham Lincoln, The White House (2017), https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/abrahamlincoln (last visited Apr 30, 2017).

      While I was walking around  there is this image statutes in New York  called Charging Bull, which is sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull,  is a bronze sculpture that stands in Bowling Green in the Financial District  in Manhattan New York City. Originally guerrilla art  installed unofficially by Arturo Di Modica  its popularity led to it being a permanent feature. The 7,100-pound 3,200 kg sculpture stands 11 feet 3.4 m tall and measures 16 feet 4.9 m long. The oversize sculpture depicts a bull, the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity leaning back on its haunches and with its head lowered as if ready to charge. The sculpture is both a popular tourist destination which draws thousands of people a day, as well as “one of the most iconic images of New York”

         The bronze color and hard, metallic texture of the sculpture’s surface emphasizes the brute force of the creature. The work was designed and placed so that viewers could walk around it, which also suggests the creature’s own movement is unrestricted a point reinforced by the twisting posture of the bull’s body, according to Durante.Charging Bull, then, shows an aggressive or even belligerent force on the move, but unpredictably. It’s not far-fetched to say the theme is the energy, strength, and unpredictability of the stock market, The sculpture technically has a temporary permit allowing it to stand on city property since the city does not own the sculpture, but the temporary permission has lasted since 1989, when city officials said the new location would not be permanent.

About fifty years ago, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson became the first black player to play in a Major League baseball game. The day he stepped onto the Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947 he broke the color barrier and made the way for other black athletes to play the game. Without the brave  Jackie Robinson who open the way for other colored athletes like himself there wouldn’t be Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or  even Tiger Woods. Sports would of been  very different in today’s society.  The way he handled himself on and off the field was very impressive. He took every racist comment that was thrown at him and decided not to make it bother him. The general manager who brought him into baseball, prohibited him from talking back to the people. But Jackie  Robinson didn’t let the pressure get to him at all. Jackie Robinson also helped to advance the civil rights movement further in 1947 with this major move he also helped to galvanize his generation to fight more for civil rights for people of color. The “civil rights movement” really came alive in the 1950’s to the 1980’s, due to Jackie Robinson integrating the segregated professional baseball league. Thanks to many great “civil rights movement icons” like Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Fannie Lou Hamer, we were able to elect our first “Black President” in 2008 and 2012 (President Barack Obama). In 1962 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Robinson distinguished himself as a talented player and a vocal civil rights activist. In 1955, he helped the Dodgers win the World Series. He retired in 1957 with a career batting average of .311. Robinson died in Connecticut in 1972.

This picture was taken in the capitol building in Washington D.C. It is a statue of Maria L. Sanford a well-known pursuer of knowledge. At the age of 16 she began her teaching career. She funded her own higher education using her dowry funds. She rose in rank as a national educator and became the principal and superintendent of many schools located in Pennsylvania.

Sanford was very enthusiastic when it came to education. This is something we both have in common. As a professor at the University of Minnesota to which she was invited to become a faculty of, she lectured students on literature and art history. These are areas in education for which I have a deep respect for as well. Sanford would challenge her students every day to perform well in her classes. She was a political activist as well and gave speeches to many and believed strongly in women’s right, education for African Americans, and adult education. Sanford was well-traveled and gave more than one-thousand speeches. She later went on to creating the Minneapolis Improvement League which helped to further the causes she believed in. Sanford was picked in 1920 to give a speech at the state celebration when the 19^th amendment was passed. The amendment gave women the right to vote. In 1958, Minnesota chose Maria Sanford to represent the state in The National Statuary hall in Washington D.C. This was decision well-fitting of a women who was well ahead of her times!

Citation

Maria Sanford, Architect of the Capitol | United States Capitol, https://www.aoc.gov/art/national-statuary-hall-collection/maria-sanford (last visited Apr 3, 2017).