People from the past who said yesiCAN...
History records a vast number of remarkable people who had great achievements. Many had troubled childhoods and difficulties in life. The individuals recorded on this site are included to inspire you to both overcome issues that you may face in life and also to fire your courage and imagination to set goals and determine to achieve them.
A few of these remarkable people are included below. Each has:
- The person’s name, nationality and year of birth and death
- Their achievement(s)
- Handicaps overcome
- A brief outline of their lives and
- Links to additional information
George Washington Carver
- George Washington Carver - African American - 1884-1943.
- Inventor, Botanist, Chemist, Scientist.
- Born a slave in wartime. Poor health as a child. Kidnapping. Prejudice and discrimination.
- George Washington Carver was born into slavery during the American civil war and owned by a German American named Moses Carver (slaves often took the name of their owner). At 1 week old he, his mother and a sister were kidnapped by a Confederate raiding party and sold in Kentucky. Moses Carver sent a man to save them but could only locate and rescue George. Moses Carver then cared for him as his own son, teaching him to read and write. He was a sickly child, unable to work in the fields so worked in the garden. But here he learned much about plants and agriculture. He became known in the region as “The plant doctor”. Later he applied to a college by mail, was accepted then rejected because he was black. Through persistence and courage George, a firm Christian, trained diligently and in 1896 joined the staff at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama as a researcher and teacher, serving for 47 years. He invented and discovered many agricultural processes and products including hundreds of uses for peanuts, sweet potato, soy and pecans, taught crop rotation and the importance of maintaining nitrogen in the soil. He advised Mahatma Ghandi on agricultural issues and even operated his own mobile classroom for teaching the newly freed slaves farming techniques, enriching their lives. His epitaph reads, “He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honour in being helpful to the world”.
- http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299 / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver1.
Gladys Aylwood
- Gladys Aylwood - English - 1902-1970
- Rescued 100 Chinese orphans during wartime. Appointed the “Foot inspector” for the Yang Cheng region of China. Risked her life to stop a prison riot. Operated “The inn of the sixth happiness” for mule caravan drivers and orphaned children.
- Unskilled with little education; no formal training, special talents or social status. Considered unsuitable by a Mission society.
- Gladys Aylwood at 26 was rejected as unsuitable by China Inland Mission for service in China. But this only strengthened her resolve. She believed God was sending her to go to China. As a child Gladys felt 2nd rate because all her friends were tall and she was short, they had fair hair and hers was black. Her working class family meant she had to work as a domestic at 14. Later she worked as a parlour maid and saved her meagre wage till she had enough to buy a ticket to China. Her route was to be overland via the perilous Trans Siberian Railway. A sea voyage was far too costly. On reaching Yancheng in 1932 she worked with an older missionary lady to give hospitality to mule caravan drivers, feeding their mules plus caring for orphans. She now found she fitted in well among the Chinese – they were all short with black hair too! When the Chinese Government outlawed the binding of girl’s feet (an ideal adult foot length was about 7cm!) Gladys was appointed the “Foot inspector”, to help eradicate the practice from the Yancheng region. In 1938 Japan invaded China. Now wounded Chinese soldiers were also being cared for in the Inn of the Sixth Happiness. With imminent danger facing her, Gladys along with 100 children had to set out on foot, to safety in Sian, a distance of over 160kms (100 miles). It took 27 days without supplies following mountain trails to reach Sian. The danger of attack from above by Japanese planes made it necessary to avoid roads. Gladys Aylwood became known worldwide through the book entitled “The small woman” by Alan Burgess and the somewhat inaccurate movie called “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness”.
- https://urbana.org/go-and-do/.../small-woman-big-heart-great-faith / http://washingtonubf.org/Resources/Leaders/GladysAylward.html
Helen Keller
- Helen Keller - American - 1880-1968
- Author, Lecturer, Bachelor of Arts Degree, Political activist.
- Blind, deaf, mute.
- Determination, hard work and imagination can allow an individual to triumph over adversity. Helen Keller did just that, breaking the barriers of total blindness and deafness, and because she could not hear she was also unable to speak (mute). As a healthy and happy 18 months old Helen was struck down with a devastating infection (yellow fever or meningitis) which destroyed her senses of eyesight and hearing. Suddenly hers was a world of darkness and silence. Now constantly frustrated and confused, she became unruly and difficult to handle. Some relatives even said she should be put into an institution. Helen’s young and troubled life changed direction when she was 7. A tutor named Anne Sullivan began teaching her enabling her to begin to interact with the world. The teacher began by writing the names if things with her fingers on the palms of Helen’s hands. She quickly made the connection between the finger written words and the objects. It took her 25 years of persistent practice to learn to speak and be understood. In 1904 she became the first deaf and blind person in history to gain her Bachelor of Arts Degree. She became an expert in Braille a prolific writer, lecturer and among other political issues a suffragette demanding the right to vote for women. When she “heard” about Jesus Christ she said “I knew He was there but I didn’t know His name”. She died in 1968 having lived a full and productive life and a challenge and example to us all. Helen Keller left many remarkable statements. Here are a few: “Never bend your head, hold it high, look the world in the eye”, “Character isn’t developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved”, “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light”, “The best and most beautiful things in the world can’t be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart”.
- http://www.biography.com/people/helen-keller-9361967 / http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/helen_keller.html / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller