Leadership Stories
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The Blinding of Sergeant Isaac Woodard and Executive Order 9981
In an election year he was expected to lose, Harry Truman desegregated the armed forces. The road began on a Greyhound bus.
The Woman Who Organized a Boycott Into a Machine (Jo Ann Robinson, USA)
Rosa Parks was the spark. Jo Ann Robinson built the machine: 52,500 leaflets in one night and 381 days of logistics.
The Athlete Who Turned Fame Into Leverage (Jackie Robinson, USA)
Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line, then spent his platform opening doors for others until the end. Leverage means spending it.
The Woman Who Built an Army Out of Paper (Septima Clark, USA)
Septima Clark built a movement out of literacy worksheets and registration forms. Paper decides who gets in, and logistics can drive moral force.
The Preacher Who Refused to Wait (Martin Luther King Jr., USA)
From a Birmingham jail cell, Martin Luther King Jr. answered everyone who said wait. Urgency with discipline, and love that doesn't flinch.
A Tale of Two Civil Rights Pioneers
Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat on December 1, 1955. Nine months earlier, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin did the same thing.