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MYTHS AND HEROES

A myth is a story that may or may not be true. These stories have great symbolic power and that’s why they can survive for thousands years. A hero is a person who is admired for his courage or nobles qualities. That’s sometimes a person who has done a(n) heroic act. In the 60’s there was many segregation, and more precisely in the USA. Some people have thrown tomatoes at black people. But in this period, some heroes appeared. But can be an activist be considered a hero? At first, black people defended their rights. Then,I will show that there were different types of involvement, like the Art.

In the 60’s, black people was advocating their rights. Many people had a real courage and were involved. They defend their ideal with different means. Martin Luther King is an example of activist: he was a Baptist minister. He struggles against segregation. He used non-violence actions to defend his ideal, like boycotts, speech or demonstration. He was really gifted and delivered a famous speech “I have a dream”. He received the Nobel Peace Prize (1964) but was assassinated / shot down in 1968. Sometimes, a same idea was followed two different ways. For example, Malcom X defended more against segregation than Rosa Parks. He used violent actions with the group of the black panthers, whereas Rosa Parks was called “the mother of freedom movement”. She refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and stayed 381 days in prison during black people boycotted the bus company.

Norman Rockwell chose another involvement: the Art. He did a painting called “the problem we all live with”. On this painting we can see a young black girl, probably 6. She’s wearing white clothes (dress, a skirt, with a blouse), white socks, shoes and hair band/tie. She’s holding books, notebook and rules. She’s walking in the street, surrounded by four men. We can imagine that she’s going to school and that she is protected by US Marshall because there was segregation. We can see a tomato on the wall she must have been thrown by white people at the little girl. She was the first black people going in a white school and that make you realise how big was this changement.

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