Showing posts with label Social Activists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Activists. Show all posts

Sunday, 14 February 2010

Thomas Barnado

In 1862 Thomas Barnado (1845 – 1905) an Irish clerk of Jewish origin converted to evangelical Christianity. After a period spent preaching in the Dublin slums, he arrived in London to study medicine with the aim of becoming a medical missionary. Moved by the child poverty and homelessness around him, he begun to care for destitute waifs and strays.
In 1870 he opened the first of the "Dr Barnardo’s Homes" at 18 Stepney Causeway, London whilst still a student. One evening an 11-year old boy, John ‘Carrots’ Somers was turned away because the shelter was full. He was found dead two days later from malnutrition and exposure and from then on the home bore the sign ‘No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission’.
The work steadily increased until, at the time of Barnado's death, in 1905, there were established 112 district "Homes," besides mission branches, throughout the United Kingdom

Sunday, 2 August 2009

Susan B Anthony

Susan Brownell Anthony (1820 1906) was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. Raised as a Quaker by her strictly religious father, Anthony took part in anti-slavery and temperance movements from an early age. At the age of 29 she moved to her family farm in Rochester, New York, where she started attending the local Unitarian Church and began to distance herself from the Society of Friends. This was in part because she had frequently witnessed instances of hypocritical behavior such as the use of alcohol amongst Quaker preachers. However her background attending Quaker services, where unlike most other denominations both men and women were allowed to speak, was influential on her beliefs and contributed to Anthony deciding to devote herself totally to the cause of equal rights for women. For 45 years, she traveled the United States and Europe, giving 75 to 100 speeches every year on women's rights. In 1869 Anthony, along with Elizabeth Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, the first women's movement in the USA.