MartinLutherKing,Jr.wasanAmericanclergyman,activist,andprominentleaderintheAfricanAmericancivilrightsmovement.HeisbestknownforbeinganiconicfigureintheadvancementofcivilrightsintheUnitedStatesandaroundtheworld,usingnonviolentmethodsfollowingtheteachingsofMahatmaGandhi.KingisoftenpresentedasaheroicleaderinthehistoryofmodernAmericanliberalism.Hehasaworldfamousspeechnamed"ihaveadream",whichillustratesthedreamofAfricanAmericansthatallmenintheUnitedStatescanleadanequallife.

　　NelsonRolihlahlaMandelaservedasPresidentofSouthAfricafrom1994to1999,andwasthefirstSouthAfricanpresidenttobeelectedinafullyrepresentativedemocraticelection.Beforehispresidency,Mandelawasananti-apartheidactivist,andtheleaderofUmkhontoweSizwe,thearmedwingoftheAfricanNationalCongress.In1962hewasarrestedandconvictedofsabotageandothercharges,andsentencedtolifeinprison.Mandelaserved27yearsinprison,spendingmanyoftheseyearsonRobbenIsland.Followinghisreleasefromprisonon11February1990,Mandelaledhispartyinthenegotiationsthatledtomulti-racialdemocracyin1994.Aspresidentfrom1994to1999,hefrequentlygaveprioritytoreconciliation.

　　JohnBrownwasarevolutionaryabolitionistfromtheUnitedStates,whoadvocatedandpracticedarmedinsurrectionasameanstoabolishslaveryforgood.HeledthePottawatomieMassacrein1856inBleedingKansasandmadehisnameintheunsuccessfulraidatHarpersFerryin1859.HewastriedandexecutedfortreasonagainstthestateofVirginia,murder,andconspiracylaterthatyear.Brownhasbeencalled"themostcontroversialofall19th-centuryAmericans."

　　HarrietTubmanwasanAfrican-Americanabolitionist,humanitarian,andUnionspyduringtheAmericanCivilWar.Afterescapingfromslavery,intowhichshewasborn,shemadethirteenmissionstorescuemorethan70slavesusingthenetworkofantislaveryactivistsandsafehousesknownastheUndergroundRailroad.ShelaterhelpedJohnBrownrecruitmenforhisraidonHarpersFerry,andinthepost-warerastruggledforwomen'ssuffrage.