The concept of courage is usually associated with physical acts of derring-do that involve danger, risk, and behavior. Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks, two people who lived decades apart and who stood on opposite sides of America's racial divide, nevertheless both exemplify courage, and remain classic examples of physical and moral courage. Just as Abraham Lincoln deserves to be remembered for preserving the Union and for helping to eradicate the “sin of slavery,” so too Rosa Parks deserves to be remembered as the “mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Each of these individuals had different talents and temperaments and they faced different kinds of challenges, in different circumstances, and in different times. To be real, they require an act of moral courage: to endure risk for the sake of principle.

Controlled Vocabulary Terms

civil rights; leadership