The Children's Storybook of Freedom Fighters

There once was a man who was born into a poor family. He was tall and slender, but as strong as an elephant, and his name was Steve Biko. Many of Biko’s friends said that he was not only handsome and fearless, but also a great thinker.

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17th 1942 in Louisville Kentucky to Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr and Odessa Grady Clay. Cassius’s father was a painter and a musician and little Cassius believed his father was “the fanciest dancer in Louisville”. Cassius also had a little brother named Rudolph. Odessa was a devoted Christian and had a great influence on both of her sons’ lives and spiritual upbringing. She was a sweet, fat, wonderful woman, who loved to cook, eat, make clothes, and be with family. She didn’t drink, smoke, meddle in other people's business, or bother anyone. Every Sunday, she dressed Cassius and Rudolph up, took them to church, and taught them the way she thought was right. She taught her boys to love people and treat everybody with kindness. She taught them it was wrong to be prejudiced or hate anyone. This was not always easy in America for little black boys at the time. Having black skin still meant having to going to a separate school from the white kids. Cassius got interested in boxing at the age of 12 after someone stole his bike. Cassius got so mad that he wanted to “whup” the kid that had stolen his bike. A policeman suggested that Cassius learn how to box before picking fights with anyone. The same policeman offered to take little Cassius to boxing classes which he hosted. Cassius went and went on to become a very talented boxer. At the age of 18, he even went on to win an Olympic gold medal in the 1960 Summer olympics in Italy. Cassius was known for his speed rather than his strength and that made him stand out in a division full of strong heavy handed boxers. Cassius floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee!

"From Fighting for Olympic Gold to Defending Human Rights" by Elias Kaukonen

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

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"The One Who Is Blessed" by Tara Tabani and Rosa Zweygberg

It was a beautiful day in Hawaii, when a man named Barack Hussein Obama and a woman named Ann Dunham had a child. Ann and Barack had met in Ann’s school since Barack came as an exchange student. They named their son Barack, just like his father. The name Barack means “the one who is blessed”. His mother was white and born in Kansas. His father was black and was born in Kenya. Because his mother was white and his father was black, he was a mixed race kid. When Barack was two years old, his parents separated. Soon after that Ann remarried. Ann and her new family moved to Indonesia with Barack, when he was six. At the age of ten, Barack moved back to beautiful Hawaii to live with his grandparents. He was a hardworking student. He studied very hard there. The years passed with sweat dripping down Barack’s face and Barack finally graduated from Columbia University. Barack majored in political science. Due to the inequality African-Americans had faced in America, it must be understood that getting into a prestigious university like Columbia University was a challenging achievement.

In 1960, NASA wanted to send a human to the Moon for the first time. It wasn’t easy and they needed someone to figure out the way. When Katherine finally got to work on the projects, she started to use her amazing math skills to find out how they could land on the Moon AND IT WORKED! She got to watch her calculus take a spaceship to the Moon. As did millions of other people around the world. Katherine’s story teaches us, that if you keep counting stars, you can also reach them.

Sources: <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography">https://www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Katherine-Johnson-mathematician">https://www.britannica.com/biography/Katherine-Johnson-mathematician</a> <a href="https://www.biography.com/scientist/katherine-g-johnson">https://www.biography.com/scientist/katherine-g-johnson</a>

The Children's Story Book of Freedom Fighters

Eventually, as an adult, Nelson and his friends started talking to people about justice and equal rights. Some people weren’t happy with what Nelson was saying and they took Nelson to prison. Nelson was in prison for 27 years. In prison he had a lot of time to think about things. He realized that violence wasn’t a solution for peace. After prison Nelson and all of his listeners and friends continued to talk about becoming equal but this time they decided to act and protest non-violently. Then came a time to elect the next leader. The people of South Africa voted Nelson to become the president. The people of South Africa believed that Nelson wanted to unite everyone and bring happiness to the country. He believed that white people had more rights than black people and wanted to change that. He was passionate about the thought of uniting white people and black people.&nbsp;Nelson ruled for a long time and lived a happy life, knowing that his life’s work brought happiness to his country. It takes a lot of courage to make a change but this one troublemaker named Nelson Mandela, managed do build up the courage to stand against what is right and with that, he managed to achieve peace and prosperity in all South-Africa. Sources: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zjkj382/articles/zj3p8xs">https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zjkj382/articles/zj3p8xs</a> <a href="https://www.nelsonmandela.org/">https://www.nelsonmandela.org/</a>

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African-American author Toni Morrison's parents used to sing and tell ghost stories and folktales. Therefore little Toni fell in love with literature. Her nickname in school was Teeny Tiny Toni. She didn’t own a TV until she was at college.

Table of Contents "Teeny Tiny Toni and the Lonely Paper" by Kielo Aitta ... p. 3 "Reach for the Stars and You Might Land on the Moon" by Anna-Maria Gordin and Eevi Perkiö ... p. 9 "From Fighting for Olympic Gold to Defending Human Rights" by Elias Kaukonen ... p. 13 "The One Who Is Blessed" by Tara Tabani and Rosa Zweygberg ... p. 18 "Black Is Beautiful" by Elisa Talja ... p. 21 "You Can Call Me A Hero, Or Just Harriet" by Amanda Lydman and Tuulia Salminen ... p. 23 "He’s A Jolly Good Fellow?" by Olli Niemelä ... p. 25 "Nelson Mandela the Troublemaker" by Saara Dahina, Arttu Juutilainen and Samuel Lehtonen ... p. 27

A long time ago by the Combahee River, a woman watched the early morning fog lift off some of the Southern plantations. The woman had been preparing for that day and it was finally upon her.&nbsp; Harriet Tubman was a spy. She had tremendous spirit and strength and she had helped a man named Colonel James Montgomery plan a raid to free slaves.&nbsp; Harriet had information about the enemy’s positions, knowing exactly where they would be, so that she could execute her plan accordingly. This was a dangerous mission for just about anyone and Harriet succeeded. Not only did Harriet do this once, but multiple times.&nbsp; Harriet knew the risks, since she had been born into northern slavery in Maryland in 1820 and eventually escaped towards her freedom in 1849.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Although Harriet is known for her role in saving the slaves with help from the Underground Railroad, she also helped Susan B. Anthony in her fight for women’s rights after the Civil War.&nbsp; Harriet showed what true bravery could be and is considered a true hero and inspiration to all. She helped about 750 slaves to freedom, among them innocent men, women, children and babies. In fact, Harriet Tubman was buried with semi-military honors and was considered for the face off the 20 dollar bill.&nbsp; Sources: “How Did Harriet Tubman Escape?” Harriet Tubman, 2020, <a href="http://www.harriet-tubman.org/escape/">www.harriet-tubman.org/escape/</a>.

"You Can Call Me A Hero, Or Just Harriet" by Amanda Lydman and Tuulia Salminen

Later Barack formally announced his candidacy for President in Springfield. He faced criticism during the campaign, but ultimately won the presidential election. People even tried to falsify facts by making racist accusations for example saying Obama is African and not African-American, and therefore cannot run because he wasn’t even born here. Infact Barack was born in the United States of America and he is more white and Arab than African.&nbsp; During his time as the first African-American U.S. President, Barack succeeded in doing countless amazing things for the United States of America and other countries. As the 44th president of USA, Barack Obama made the world a better place by helping minorities, ending wars and improving equality. He truly is the one who is blessed and he has spread his blessings all over America.

Muhammad Ali was an icon of his time. He was the biggest name in sports during the 70s, an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement, a boxing hall of famer, a husband and a father. He followed his children’s boxing careers closely from the beginning to the end, just like his mother had followed him, and taught them to fight for what was like, just like his mother had taught him. Muhammad Ali passed away June 3rd, 2016 at the age of 74. His death was mourned around the world and many athletes and politicians paid tribute to him. He was a true fighter inside and outside of the ring. “If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it--then I can achieve it.” - Muhammad Ali Sources: “Boxing's Official Record Keeper.” BoxRec, 19 March 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/180">https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/180</a> Economy, Peter. “11 Super Inspiring Muhammad Ali Quotes.”&nbsp;Inc. 5. June 2016, <a href="https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/11-super-inspiring-muhammad-ali-quotes.html">https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/11-super-inspiring-muhammad-ali-quotes.html</a> Johnston, Chris. “Muhammad Ali's best quotes: 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'. The Guardian, 4 June 2016, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-greatest-quotes-sting-butterfly-louisville-lip">https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-greatest-quotes-sting-butterfly-louisville-lip</a> Orkand Bob. “I Ain’t Got No Quarrel With Them Vietcong.”&nbsp;The New York Times, 27 June 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/opinion/muhammad-ali-vietnam-war.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/opinion/muhammad-ali-vietnam-war.html</a> Reilly Katie. “How Muhammad Ali First Got in the Ring.” Time, 4 June 2016, <a href="https://time.com/4357595/muhammad-ali-dead-career-beginning/">https://time.com/4357595/muhammad-ali-dead-career-beginning/</a> Sims Alexandra. “Muhammad Ali: Why did the boxing legend change his name from Cassius Clay?” The Independent, 4 June 2016,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/muhammad-ali-death-cassius-clay-why-did-he-change-his-name-nation-of-islam-a7065256.html">https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/muhammad-ali-death-cassius-clay-why-did-he-change-his-name-nation-of-islam-a7065256.html</a>

Cassius was interested in Islam and became a Muslim soon after the Olympics.&nbsp;Eventually he took the name Muhammad Ali, which means “beloved of god”. Muhammad had to keep his religious beliefs a secret in fear of how the public would react. In his twenties, Muhammad met his future mentor Malcolm X for the first time. Malcom X was a popular human rights activist. He fought hard for the rights of black people and for them to be treated the same as everyone else. He was assasinated in 1965 by members of “Nation of Islam”, which he had had conflicts with. Malcom was speculated to have a major influence on Muhammad by giving him the belief that he was invincible. The two were publicly seen together for the first time in 1964, just days before his first professional title challenge. The news of Muhammad having converted to Islam broke out and almost caused the bout to be cancelled. Even though Muhammad was a son to a devoted Christian mother, she understood Muhammad and supported him during this time. Even though Muhammad had changed his, her God was still God; he just called him by a different name. At the age of 24, Muhammad was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Muhammad refused and stated his religious beliefs and the treatment of African-Americans in the army to be the reason he wouldn’t go and fight for the U.S.. Muhammad felt that it was unfair that African-American soldiers often got the worst jobs in the army and treated poorly because of their skin color. Muhammad also cited the Quran’s ban on Muslims fighting Christian wars among one of the reasons he ended up refusing the draft. “Man, I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Kong. Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?”

Once upon a time, actually a hundred years ago, an African American woman called Katherine Johnson was born. As a little girl, she loved mathematics and learning new things.&nbsp;She always counted everything, especially the stars in the sky. She was the best in her class, and could solve any problem the teacher threw at her. It is no surprise that later on in life she became a teacher, who taught other eager children to learn. When Katherine became an adult, she got a job at NASA, the space station. All the African American women who were hired, including her, were called “the computers”.

In the beginning, the only thing they let her do there was counting.&nbsp;NASA had meetings about space projects, but only men could attend them. Because she asked a lot of questions and wanted to learn more about NASA,&nbsp;she got promoted and started to work on space projects. She became the first woman to attend the space project meetings. This was also a big step for women and the African American community. Katherine had worked so hard to get where she was and as a black woman that wasn’t always easy.

Around 60 years ago, there was a man who flew to the Moon.&nbsp;The whole wide world was amazed that a man could walk on the Moon, but no-one really knew how he got there. You see, in order to get to the Moon, you needed to get a spaceship so powerful, that it could reach the Moon. To make all of this possible, you needed a true genius whose intelligence could make the spaceship fly.

Biko lived in a country called South Africa where black people were bullied for the color of their skin. The white people thought that they were better than black people, which wasn’t true. Biko wanted everyone to be treated the same regardless of their color. Biko didn’t like being bullied for the way he looked, so he told everyone that black is beautiful. Even though white people hated him, Biko didn’t hate them back. He just wanted all his friends to have a better life and to be free. Biko traveled from his home to another city to tell others about his ideas. Many people came to listen to him talk because they also wanted to be free. The white people got scared that they would have to share their freedom and wealth with everyone, even though they had plenty to share, so they put Biko in prison. In prison, Biko was badly beaten up by the police and he died. Tens of thousands of people came to his funeral, and together they sang songs about freedom. Even after his death, his ideas travelled across the country. People wrote songs about him, and his words spread even further. After a while, the whole world knew about Biko’s beautiful ideas, and the whites were finally ready to share their freedom. Because of Biko, black is beautiful in South Africa today. Sources: “Steve Biko.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Mar. 2020, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko “Steve Biko.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Sept. 2019, fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko. “Steve Biko.” Biography.com, A&amp;E Networks Television, 26 Aug. 2019, www.biography.com/activist/steve-biko.

As an adult, Barack moved to Chicago by himself to become a community organiser. Obama was accepted to Harvard Law School where he would become the first African American editor-in-chief for the Harvard Law review magazine. When Barack was 21 years old, his father died. Obama had always struggled with his multicultural background as a kid, which he wrote about in his memoir, Dreams From My Father. Sadly, only a few months after the book was published, Barack Obama's mother Ann died from cancer. Later Barack was elected to the Illinois State Senate from the 13th constituency. Barack encouraged Americans to find unity in diversity. He spoke about many important issues such as gun control, laws regarding abortion and tax cuts. Midway through his election campaign, Barack spoke beautifully about the American Dream at a Democratic party meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Barack’s speech was his first appearance for most Americans and wide media coverage made him famous overnight. Barack remarked, ”Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.”

Muhammad was arrested in 1967 and found guilty of draft evasion. He was fined 10 000 dollars and stripped of the boxing titles he had been holding since 1964. Although Muhammad was threatened with 5 years of jail time, he didn’t end up spending any time there because he was awaiting the decision by the Supreme Court. During his exile and time away from the boxing ring, Muhammad became a popular public speaker on behalf of the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam Movements. He held his most popular speech, “Black Is Best”, at Howard University in front of 4000 students. “My enemy is the white people, not Viet Cong or Chinese or Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. You won't even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs and you want me to go somewhere and fight, but you won't even stand up for me here at home?” Muhammad’s decision to not enlist in the Vietnam War inspired other black athletes and celebrities to be vocal about the Civil Rights Movement and the war. After three years away from the sport, Muhammad had his first bout in 1970 against Jerry Quarry, a very talented boxer whose biggest strength was his actual strength. It was like a strong bear versus a quick lion. Muhammad was very convincing in the ring and showed everyone that he still had the same lightning speed that had made him an unbeatable force and a legend in boxing. He won the bout against Quarry and went on to win many more.&nbsp;

Father told Mike that Rodney King was a symbol for how black people were mistreated in LA in the 1990s. Rodney King was speeding when the cops stopped him and they eventually beat him up badly. Mike asked, “Why can cops do such a things?” Father said, “The world was like that then. When the case was brought to court, the cops were released without any conviction. After that, large riots erupted in LA and lasted a week. A lot of looting and arsons took place. There was chaos everywhere, windows were broken and houses were set on fire.” Mike asked, “How is it possible that one mishandling can lead to such a large riot?” Father said “There were other issues too, but that was the last straw, because LA Police Department already had a bad reputation for abusing black people. After the riots ended, King got a large compensation.” Mike said, “Rodney King was a nice guy, wasn’t he?” Father replied, “He had an important role in the process of the US becoming a more equal place, but he was not a saint. After all, he broke many laws himself.” Mike said, Hopefully Daniel’s little brother turns out to be as important as Rodney King was.” Then the only thing he could think of was getting that ice cream for dessert. Sources: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots</a>

"He’s A Jolly Good Fellow?" by Olli Niemelä

Little Mike, 12 years old, was playing football with his friends. After a while his father came to look for him. Father said to Mike that they should go to home to eat and there would be ice cream for dessert. In the car, Mike asked, “Who is Rodney King?” “Where have you heard that name?” his father asked. Mike said that Daniel’s parents had given their new baby the name&nbsp;Rodney after Rodney King. They had said that he was an important character for their family.

"Nelson Mandela the Troublemaker" by Saara Dahina, Arttu Juutilainen and Samuel Lehtonen

Once upon a time there was a country called South Africa where people were not treated equally. Some people weren’t allowed the same things as others even though they were all human. The only difference between these people of South-Africa, was the colour of their skin. The white colonists that came to South Africa thought that they were better than the blacks living in their home country. It took many years for the whites to realize that no matter how different you look, we are all still equal. A boy called Rolihlahla was born in South Africa in 1918. His name was given to him by his dad. In his native language of Xhosa it means troublemaker. Later this boy was given a different name by his teacher, a white name - Nelson.

Nobody ever expected big things from Nelson. Nelson was just an ordinary boy. Nelson's family was in a very high position in their tribe, but regardless Nelson had an ordinary childhood. Nelson was the first in his family to attend school and have a proper education. But when Nelson was a teenager, he decided that he wanted to do something about the horrible situation that his country was in. He thought that it was very unfair that people were treated differently just because they looked different. Nelson had a lot of friends who shared his values and also wanted justice for everyone.

Sources: <a href="http://manoflabook.com/wp/4903/">http://manoflabook.com/wp/4903/</a> <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/14/us/toni-morrison-fast-facts/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/14/us/toni-morrison-fast-facts/index.html</a>

"Reach for the Stars and You Might Land on the Moon" by Anna-Maria Gordin and Eevi Perkiö

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