Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist who was born on 14th of September 1879 in Corning, New York. She started by writing pamphlets which empowered women on their rights. She was the founder of the American Birth Control League. She was also a defender for freedom of speech. Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who was born on the 4th of February 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She started by declining an order from a driver to stand and pave space for a white passenger. She was then indicted of disobedience. This paper will hence concentrate on focus and courage as two qualities that propelled these two activists to international acclaim.
Margaret was focused towards her goal. As a founder of Planned Parenthood, she invested a lot of effort before the achievement of her vision. For instance, she provided contraception plus supplementary services of health to females and males. She also subsidized investigations on the control of births and availing the outcomes to the masses. She further advanced the access of citizens in the US to the planning of families (Black 12).
Rosa was also focused before achieving her aspiration. She started by defying the laws of Jim Crow in Montgomery. Parks served as an advisor to a group in which another member, Colvin was detained after claiming that her legitimate privileges were being desecrated. Parks actively participated in the campaign for the release of Colvin by offering financial support. She was on the forefront to oppose oppression of the blacks at the bus stations. During her arrest, after violating the rules in a bus, she petitioned her assurance and officially confronted the authenticity of segregation in racism. She generally internationalized the consciousness of the troubles of African Americans and hence gave impetus to the campaign for attainment of their civil rights.
The quality of courageousness in Margaret is recognized through her distribution of Family Limitation pamphlets while risking her imprisonment by defying the customary laws. The customary laws branded this activity unlawful. She went forward and launched The Woman Rebel, a newsletter that encouraged the use of contraception thus accused of violating the US obscenity rules. She went further and opened a clinic that dealt with family planning and control of births. In spite of the arrests, she never stopped her defense of free speech. She continued expressing her views publicly concerning the illegality of birth control. Margaret further declared her opposition to abortion.
Parks expressed various proceeds of courageousness in her activism. While she was travelling home during the sunset hours, she is told to shift to the backside but she declines the command thus being arrested for contravening the metropolis law necessitating racial isolation of municipal vehicles. Since she wasn’t the first person to be arrested for violating the rule, she was a woman of unconcealed personality who was detained in respect by those she was famous to. Through her courage she achieved a title recognized as “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” (Black 24).
In conclusion, Margaret was focused and courageous. Through these two qualities, she was extensively accredited a leader of the modern movement concerning the control of births. She also achieved respect and accreditation from other civil right leaders. She was named the humanist of the year in 1957 after constructing a clinic that offered family planning and other health services. On the other hand, Rosa Parks’ qualities of focus and courage enabled her to achieve her objectives as a civil rights activist and through this African Americans gained freedom. She was awarded several medals of Honor and awards from other civil rights leaders. Both the women achieved their goals through these qualities.
Works Cited
Black, Edwin. The War against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race. New York City: Basic books, 2003. Print.