50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet

50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet — page 7 — INTRODUCTION ow quickly can you name 50 American heroes They can women young or old from the past or present living or dead but they all must have made an exceptional positive contribution to our world How'd you do Were you able to come up with 50 names Who's on your list Chances are a few names popped right up George Washington Abraham Lincoln Martin Luther King Jr After all they have their own national holidays Then maybe you mentioned people you are studying in school such as Thomas Jefferson Eleanor Roosevelt or Harriet Tubman After that perhaps you listed a few important people in the news Bill Gates Jimmy Carter even Oprah Winfrey But you still didn't have 50 names so you moved on to sports stars rock singers and other celebrities who may or may not deserve to be called heroes Maybe you even filled out your list with imaginary heroes such as your favorite TV or movie characters Coming up with a list of 50 wasn't easy was it We didn't think so either and that s why we wrote this book Every kid needs great men and women to admire and imitate but how can you look up to them if you don't know who they are Among our heroes are architects and aviators activists and scientists entrepreneurs and advocates They are teachers musicians inventors and athletes Some are well known Others deserve to be Some of our heroes lived long ago Others continue to enrich our world today Our heroes share admirable qualities exceptional talent fierce determination and indomitable spirit They are courageous and confident and possess an unwavering commitment to being the best they can be And every one is a citizen of the United States Can only an American be a hero Of course not But America is like no other place in the world Here heroes can be rich or poor male or female young or old and of any race religion or national origin under the sun The opportunities open to us are almost endless We re free to follow any dream that enters our heads and we have every right to expect fair treatment from others as we do so It s as simple as that So what do these 50 American heroes have to do with you Everything They might be what you want to be when you grow up Although their shoes may seem impossible to fill you ll find that many of our heroes were a lot like you when they were young They had families homes classmates part time jobs Many had doubts about their own abilities to make a difference in this

50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet — page 8 — Read about them Hear their stories We ve given you a few good books to get you started on finding out more about each of our heroes Heroes usually seem larger than life They are so great as to seem almost unreal to us But all of them a people Reading their biographies can help you learn more about their childhoods their friends and families their hobbies and all the other things that make them just like you Because they are real people these heroes are not perfect Sometimes they made mistakes like everyone does Some of our greatest heroes our country s founders made a terrible mistake by owning slaves While we wish our heroes always did everything perfectly that s just not how it is with real people To add a little action to your search for heroes we've included a number of activities in this book We give you lots of places museums foundations national parks to contact Website addresses are listed or you can just search online and check out the always growing list of links to your favorite heroes You ll have a great time exploring new ideas and you won t be alone As you explore this book you'll see that we have made it possible for you to interact with us the authors Are our heroes the only ones you need to know about No way We can name hundreds more men and women who have done great things In fact we want to find more heroes using our Hero Hunt On page 110 we give you clues about men and women similar to the featured heroes It s up to you to solve the mysteries of who they are The answers are listed on page 118 but please NO PEEKING until you have done some digging If you believe that some of your heroes should have made our list of 50 we would like to hear from you Perhaps you know of an accomplished ballet dancer a brilliant scientist or a courageous humanitarian that were not on our roster of heroes Or maybe you admire your grandfather your teacher or even an exceptional member of your church synagogue mosque or other house of worship Contact us and tell us why you hold him or her in such high regard Better yet tell your friends who your heroes are The people you look up to can change other kids lives too If you're willing to spread the word Here's our website www heroes4us com It's time for real heroes

50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet — page 9 — JANEADDAMS SEPTEMBER 6 1860 MAY 21 1935 THE FIRST LADY OF PEACE HUMANITARIAN AUTHOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER ou've probably heard of Mother Teresa the Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping the world's poor people But did you know that more than one hundred years ago an American born woman did the same Her name was Jane Addams and she almost always knew that she wanted to help people Jane Addams was a woman of action In Europe she learned of a program in which educated young men moved into a poor section of London and offered classes and activities to people right there in the neighborhood She thought it was such a great idea that she brought it home and founded Hull House in the slums of Chicago In a huge mansion surrounded by the Jane Addams posed for this photograph in 1914 Among crowded homes poor immigrants reforms with was of Jane the benefiting children which she Addams and her friends created a haven associated were the first state child labor law and the first There they taught their neighbors job juvenile court skills cared for their children started a kindergarten and formed a boys club which called itself the Young Heroes Club Food friendship financial help you could find EXPLORE them all at Hull House Another cause that got Jane Addams s energy Jane Addams saw it all very simply moving and called her to action was world peace neighbors helping neighbors She was the founder and first president of the In 1979 Mother Teresa an honorary US Women's International League for Peace and citizen won the Nobel Peace Prize She followed Freedom WILPF Just as she worked hard at in the footsteps of the first American woman Hull House to help the poor she worked hard to ever to be awarded that prizeJane Addams promote world harmony 10

50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet — page 10 — Because Jane also wrote numerous books DIVE IN each year the Jane Addams Children s Book Jane Addams Champion of Democracy by Judith Awards honors children's books that promote Blood Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin Clarion peace and social justice We think you will find Books 2006 216 pages these books to be great reading Some of the award winning books are biographies of heroes some are stories of young people struggling EXPLORE SOME MORE for freedom and many are stories of incredible Does Hull House still exist Find out by courage If you would like to read about the looking up events and people who stand for the same values of peace and community that Jane Addams Jane Addams Hull House Museum stood for search the Internet for the Jane The University of Illinois at Chicago Addams Children's Book Awards 800 S Halsted M C 051 Chicago IL 60607 7017 www hullhousemuseum org POWER WORDS Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics Ethics is knowing right from wrong Jane Addams Jane Addams center poses with fellow activists in 1915 Jane Addams Hull House Museum continues to work to improve neighborhoods in Chicago 11

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