Activity
Justice and Injustice Across History
Virtues
Directions
Objectives:
- I can recognize people in history who fought injustice to understand how the actions of the past relate to the present.
Directions:
- Research the following people in history. Identify the injustice they fought in their lives. Fill out the organizer below. After identifying these people and the justice they sought, answer the following reflection questions.
| Person or Group | Injustice they Fought | Was justice achieved? |
|---|---|---|
| Ida B. Wells | Racism and discrimination toward African Americans, particularly lynching | Wells brought attention to the issue, but lynching continued into the twentieth century past her lifetime |
| Alice Paul | ||
| Frederick Douglass | ||
| Thurgood Marshall | ||
| Dorothea Dix | ||
| Fannie Lou Hamer | ||
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | ||
| Jackie Robinson | ||
| Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) | ||
| Clara Barton |
Virtue in Action: Reflection
- What patterns do you see in the work of these people?
- Was justice achieved in all of these examples? Explain.
- Consider the second half of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s quote above: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” How might your actions concerning justice and injustice affect our broader society?