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Walter Rauschenbusch In New York, the depression of 1893 created tremendous suffering among the German emigrants. Political corruption and human greed prevented much needed social welfare. Being of German decent, Walter Rauschenbusch, a professor of theology at Rochester, felt great empathy. He viewed Jesus’ "Kingdom of God" as a present reality that invited Christians to work for its establishment. "Salvation" and "new birth" in Christ was social as well as individual. He wrote Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907) which established him as the leader of the "Social Gospel" movement. With this and his other writings (Prayers of the Social Awakening, 1910; Christianizing the Social Order, 1912, and A Theology for the Social Gospel, 1917), he became a chief spokesman for equal rights and a just distribution of political and economic power. |
Jane Addams Jane Addams, social worker and pioneer in settlement houses, founded the famous Hull House in Chicago, perhaps the most influential in the world. One of the first settlement houses in North America, Hull House became a comprehensive model for providing a full program of civic, cultural, recreational, and educational activities. Jane Addams’ reformation focus was on the poor immigrant neighborhoods. Starting with efforts to improve the immediate neighborhood, she became involved in campaigns for better housing, improvement in public welfare, stricter child labor laws, and protection of working women. In her later years she was widely regarded as the greatest woman of her generation, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. |
George Washington Carver Born a slave, George Washington Carver saw his father murdered and his mother abducted by night raiders. He rose to prominence, determined to change things. A distinguished agricultural chemist and experimenter, George Washington Carver became a public benefactor of the entire South and a black hero in American history. Carver dedicated his life to making the Tuskegee Institute an instrument of ministry to the needs of his people. He proved himself a great scientist, teacher, conservationist, and humanitarian. He received international fame and many awards, including the Theodore Roosevelt Medal for his contributions to science, especially for his work with peanuts. He developed over 300 products from peanuts alone. He developed more than 100 products from sweet potatoes and over 75 from pecans. The effect of his research was to change the economic structure of the south, moving its agricultural dependence on cotton to peanuts and other produce. That enabled the possibility for a new social relationship among whites and blacks. While the vestiges of racism were to continue and were addressed by other torchbearers, George Washington Carver established the economic climate for making this possible. |
Abraham Lincoln As 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (nicknamed: "Honest Abe" and "Railsplitter") maintained the Union during the Civil War and politically, brought an end to slavery in America. He became known as "The Great Emancipator." Trained in law and with an ability to perceive the underlying issues in cases, he employed his shrewdness and eloquence of speech to become a spokesman for democracy. A movie entitled Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940s) explores the legends of Lincoln. Reportedly, when he was about to run for president, a group of ministers threatened to declare him an "atheist" because he didn’t belong to a church. Lincoln replied in effect that if he ever found a church where the sole criteria for membership was to love God and neighbor, that church would I join. |