For my random act of kindness, I “paid it forward” at Starbucks and bought a coffee for the person in line behind me.

Three Activists Research:

Alice Paul
Alice Paul was a famous activist for women’s rights. She was among the people in the first group to take action for women’s rights, specifically to vote, by picketing the White House in 1917, and as a result, she went to jail for two months. However, Alice Paul wasn’t finished with her work quite yet because after women won their right to vote with the 19th amendment in 1920, she pushed for additional empowerment measures for women. She even introduced the first Equal Rights Amendment to Congress in 1923 and worked on the civil rights bill and fair employment practices in the following decades until her death in 1977.

Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is currently a famous activist for both women’s and children’s rights. Even at her young age, she is pushing for girls’ education after the Taliban banned it in her hometown of Mingora in Pakistan. Despite receiving death threats and even getting shot in the head due to them in 2012, she continues speaking out against the Taliban through interviews and blogs. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice but finally won in 2014 at the age of seventeen, making her the youngest person to ever win this honor.

John Muir
John Muir was a famous activist for the environment. He began his work in 1876 when he demanded that the federal government begin a forest conservation policy in his articles, which were published in popular periodicals at that time. John Muir even founded the Sierra Club, where he served as president until his death, and with his fellow environmentalists, pushed for environmental conservation. He is also largely responsible for the founding of both the Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.

Five Causes of Activism:

The five activist causes that interest me are women’s rights, environmentalism, minorities, free speech, and animals. I think women’s rights are a good cause because it empowers women to be equal with men. Environmentalism is important to me because I’ve visited many national parks and want these places to be conserved for many generations to come. Minority rights are a significant activist cause because it stands up for the people that are not the majority and may not always be treated the way they should. Free speech is also worth fighting for because it lets the voices of the people be heard. Animal activism is important because it helps creatures that need our help and can’t ask for it themselves.

1. I read the article “’Pay It Forward’ Pays Off” by Inga Kiderra. The article is about the act of helping others (a.k.a. “paying it forward”).
2. The research conducted in the article was to find if kindness is contagious. They found that if someone is kind to another person, then the person that received the kindness is likely to “pay it forward” and in turn, help someone else. Thus, it leads to an exponential effect of people giving back and helping others.
3. The article convinced me about the topic of kindness because it shows that if people are nicer to one another, more people will spread the feeling to others.
4. I read a “Random Acts of Kindness” article by Jeanie from Australia called “Up There”. The person who wrote the article discussed how since she is short, at stores she often needs help getting the items from the upper shelves. Over the years, many people have helped her get these objects for her even when she didn’t ask for help, and she said that it made her happy that people would be willing to go out of their way for her. Thus, she now wants to start doing acts of kindness for other people, preferably at least 2-5 a month. I picked it because it seemed like a nice story, and it inspired me because this woman not only gets kindness, but she wants to help spread kindness too.