Myths and heroes : to what extent one individual's action trigger off the improvement of a whole people ?

MYTHS AND HEROES

The notion I’m going to deal with is myths and heroes.
First of all, I’d like to give a definition of these two concepts: A hero is a person admired for his great bravery, his achievements and who played a major role in an important situation. A myth can be defined as a story about fictional character or heroes whose several traits correspond to a human ideal. The notion of myth is more abstract and devoid of reality than the concept of hero.

They are generally people recognized for their career and their impact on the modern society. Their behavior being emulated by others.

We may wonder to what extent one individual’s actions trigger off the improvement of a whole people?

My presentation will fall into 2 parts: I will concentrate on events which triggered major changes in America before finally focusing on repercussions of those events about African-Americans.

I) Début

Everyone knows the 18th and 19th centuries as an important period because it was the American slave Trade. Indeed, plantations required a labor-intensive but planters refused to work for others, that is why they bought slaves. The excerpt of a cartoon draws our attention to the fact that the Slave Trade was a market place where people come to see who they wanted to buy. This situation was unbearable. Nevertheless, thanks to Abraham Lincoln and with the Civil War, the freedom of slaves is proclaimed.
Another document that we have studied in class exposes another form of rebellion against black people. The Little Rock Nine is a major event on the African-American Civil Rights Movement. A little picture illustrates this point. In 1957, Little Rock Nine was a group of African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School. Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas, used the National Guard to stop black children from attending the local school.
Many disputes grow and The African-American Civil Rights Movement is created. Martin Luther King, an American pastor, is the leader of this movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.

An audio document is also a relevant illustration of the uprising of black people. Claudette Colvin was a 15-year-old girl who refused to get out from the bus. Rosa Parks was not the first one to stand up against the bus segregation. In this respect, Claudette Colvin said:” I feel very, very proud of what I did. I do feel like what I did was a spark and it caught on."

II ) Conséquences maintenant

Is she right? Are we on the road to fulfill equality?
In order to illustrate this point, I have chosen two documents. The first one is a painting illustrating the major event that followed the 1964 Supreme Court’s decision (“Brown vs. Board of education”). This painting is called “The problem we all live with”. 6 girls were carefully chosen to participate in the integration of the New Orleans’s school system by attending an all-white school. The artist, Norman Rockwell, emphasizes the violence with the smashed tomato, the racist slur and the Marshals around her.

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