The Road to Perseverance
By: Grace Cross, May 2015
Defintion:
Perseverance is having the strength and determination to keep going on despite adversity. Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, the girls who lived in Carroll County, Kid President, and Winston Churchill are all some people who have faced adversity but persevered. What can be learned from them is even when people go through tough times, they can come out strong.
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson needed to break the color barrier in baseball. That meant to overcome everything said and done to him while he kept his head high.
Eleanor Roosevelt
She needed to overcome the adversity of her childhood.
The Lady Jags
They needed to persevere through the adversity of what was going on with them at home.
Jackie Robinson: Problem/Solution
From 1910-1945, one of the biggest problems was racism. Blacks were discriminated for their color, and few to none made it into the MLB. When a man named Branch Rickey was a coach for Ohio Wesleyan in 1910, one of his own players was not assigned a hotel room simply for his color. 35 years after that happened, Branch Rickey was convinced to break down the color barrier. This led to a hunt for a black man who could play baseball, stand up for others, ignore racial offenses, and keep his head high. That’s how Jackie Robinson was discovered. He was the solution. Throughout the years Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, countless racial slurs were thrown at him. He was attacked, verbally and physically, multiple times, but he continued to fight. Robinson fought for racial equality, and just like what Branch Rickey wanted him to do, he broke down the baseball color barrier and triumphed. He persevered through the adversity of him being hurt by others.
Eleanor Roosevelt: Sequence
Eleanor faced a lot of adversity throughout her life. Most of it happened during her childhood. All throughout her childhood she was thought of as the "ugly duckling". When she was a little older, she was able to understand that her parents weren't very happy with her. They had originally wanted a boy so while they still loved Eleanor, they didn't pay a lot of attention to her. She was inadequate for them. Then when her brothers finally did arrive, her parents gave them more of their love. Later when Eleanor was still young, her dad left her and her family. This made her very upset. While he was gone, her mother became ill. A few months later, her mother died, then her brother also died, and lastly, her father died without her being able to say goodbye. She and her other brother then went to live with her grandmother. Her grandmother was neglectful of Eleanor and her brother. She did not like living there. Eleanor faced a lot of adversity in her childhood, but she persevered and grew up to be one of the most important and eloquent political leaders in history.
The Lady Jags: Description
Another example of people who faced a lot of adversity is The Lady Jags. The Lady Jags were a group of girls who lived in Carroll County, Tennessee. Carroll County was very poor, with 19.6% of residents below the poverty line and 12.4% unemployed. These girls attended Carroll Academy, a school to teach them valuable life lessons and characteristics and to get them out of their inadequate homes. Some characteristics were common sense, intelligence, cautiousness, confidence, determination, etc. These girls were also put on a basketball team called the Lady Jags to help them. All of the girls who were on that basketball team faced a lot of trouble, especially at home, but Carroll Academy helped them face that trouble, and beat it.
William Kumkwamba: Cause/Effect
Kid President: Compare/Contrast
Conclusion
Overall, these people faced a lot of problems in their lives. They have been treated inadequately. Some of them have had a lot of people against them. But they never gave up. Ever. No matter how tough the situation, or how hard the journey, never give up, and persevere through any adversity.