Tahirih – Herald of the Emancipation of Women
Two hundred years ago, virtually everywhere in the world, women lived in subjugation to men. It was a world so different to our own that …
human rights forebears
Inspirational men and women from the history of human rights whose lives and stories help us with the human rights challenges of today.
Alain Locke on Identity and Human Rights
Of Alain Locke, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “We’re going to let our children know that the only philosophers that lived were not Plato and …
Lucretia Mott – Campaigner for Abolition, Advocate of Women’s Rights, Quaker Visionary
Lucretia Mott was born in 1793 and much of her long life was devoted to working for the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of …
Martin Luther King Jr – Civil Rights Leader and Peace Advocate
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for the poor of the world, the garbage workers of Memphis and the peasants of Vietnam. The day …
Would you have me argue that all human beings are equal?
Frederick Douglass was a remarkable worker for human rights. Although he lived more than a century ago, his thoughts remain pressingly relevant. He began life as …
Bartolome de las Casas: An early human rights worker
Bartolome de las Casas is one of those remarkable people in history who arose at the very beginning of the modern human rights movement. A …
Book Review: The Strange Alchemy of Law and Life by Justice Albie Sachs
The victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses whisper from the pages of this short book. They speak to us of their struggle to realize …
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Prayer: A Vision of a World Made New
Eleanor Roosevelt was the first Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Her work, with her colleagues, led to the adoption in 1948 of …