Frederick Douglass by Julio A.

People face adversity…. Frederick Douglassis a person who overcame adversity. Things happened to him as a child and he was a slave, but he still found a way through find a way to learn! That is very inspiring. People can over come adversity because Fredrick showed us the way!

 

What was Fredericks early life like? To begin with, he he was born into slavery. He didn’t really have a way to learn when he was a slave because no one would teach him that changed until he was given to a family that educated him. He was also separated from his parents. This means he didn’t get as much parental love, but he would still see them 3-4 times a year. He also learned how to read by himself. This means no one was there to teach him cause it was illegal to teach a slave. His grandmother had also taken care of him, but then she abandoned him when he was 7 years old. He was very lonely after this. At this point this shows that he didn’t get as much love nor education. All this is according to www.inc.com. 

 

How was Fredericks middle life like? To begin with, he escaped slavery at 21 years old. How did he escape you ask? I’ll tell you, he took a train going to Philadelphia. He also wrote his first autobiography on 1845. He wrote this autobiography to prove who he claimed he was, a fugitive slave. He also touched the country’s heart with a speech. This can be found on www.America’s library.com.

 

How was Frederick’s late life like? To begin with, in 1845 Douglass was the only African American to attend Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights community in upstate New York. He was totally a great speaker! In 1876, Douglass gave the keynote speech at the unveiling of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington’s Lincoln Park. He was also D.C.’s recorder of deeds from 1881 to 1886. Sadly, he passed away in 1895 at 77 years old. He passed away due to a heart attack after giving a speech. You can find this in www.no’s.gov.

 

Overall, Douglass overcame adversity and lived a not so easy life. He was a really hard working man. He never gave up and overcame his adversity. If everyone was as hardworking like Douglass, the world would be better.

Kawhi Leonard by Brian J.

 

Kawhi Leonard is a great NBA player whom a lot of NBA fans admire for his versatile game style. He is a very quiet NBA player since he doesn’t have social media. He doesn’t get into drama or big controversies that has ruined a couple of NBA careers. He has a couple of controversies, but they’re not that bad. Read along to know more about him and his moments of adversity. 

To begin with, Kawhi Leonard had a difficult childhood according to fanbuzz.com. He was the son of Mark Leonard who owned a car wash in California. He grew up Compton in an area full of violence and drugs. Yet, that didn’t stop him from chasing his dreams. His dad died when Kawhi was only 16. His father died working at a car wash while he was closing it early to go watch his son’s first basketball game. The father got into an argument and got shot 10 times. After that, Kawhi started his first high school season at Marvin Luther King High School. That season he averaged 22.6 points 3.9 and 3 block according to wwwmaxpreps.com and was named Mr. California. He accomplished all this after growing up in rough circumstances and losing his father at a young age.

Then, Leonard = finished high school, and he went and played two seasons for the San Diego Aztecs and was named second consensus second all American team as a sophomore. His freshman season he averaged 12.7 points and 10 rebounds. He led the team to a 25-9 record and also won the Mountain West Conference according to Wikipedia. Leonard was also named MVP for the Mountain West Conference Title and was named freshmen of the year during his sophomore season. He improved his game and averaged 15 points and 10.4 rebounds. After that winning season, many scouts lost interest because he couldn’t lead his team to NCAA title, so people started calling him a flop. This is one of his moments of adversity since he couldn’t lead his team to a NCAA title. 

Next, after his 2 seasons in college he entered the 2011 NBA draft. Leonard was elected 15 overall and got picked by the Indianapolis Pacers and immediately got traded to the San Antonio Spurs in his rookie season. He was eventually sent to the Olympics. After successes and wins, in 2017 he tore his ACL in a game against the Warriors. Nobody thought he would come back strong to lead the Spurs again to the finals, so he got traded to Toronto while being injured for 2 years. He came back stronger than ever after all the doubt. In 2019 he led the Toronto Raptors to finals, won the finals against the warriors, won his second finals MVP, and won his second championship. After that he went to the Los Angeles Clippers and he is still there now. He overcame an injury to win big, improve in his profession, and become an asset to his teams.

Well, this is his life and his adversities. He overcame a lot of doubt failed multiple times to lead a team and he overcame a horrible injury through all the doubt. He was a very successful NBA basketball career with 2 championships, 2 finals MVPs 1 Defensive Player of the Year, and 1 NBA All-Star.

Jesse Owens by Marvin G.

 

   Have you ever thought about how it would be to face an adversity? Facing adversity is a normal part of life. People choices can often affect the way they react to the adversity. Some take the adversity as a normal thing and use it as a motivation to help them keep going. One person is Jesse Owens who overcame adversity when he was young.

   To start with, Jesse Owens had a rough childhood. According to biography.com, he was a son of a sharecropper and a slave. Basically, he had a rough past. He was also a weak child with pneumonia. He grew up with difficulties but managed to overcome them to accomplish his dream. When he was seven, he had to pick up cotton each day to help his family. This shows that he would do anything to help his family. Despite everything that happened to him he picked up himself and became one of the greatest.  

    To continue, Jesse Owens faced unfair treatment in the Berlin Olympics  in 1936, according to ESPN, Jesse Owens faced a lot of adversity from the German leader Adolf Hitler. Hitler criticized the United States for having athletes of color and not white people. Jesse faced racism because of his skin color.  After being discriminated because of his skin color, Jesse used that as an impetus to succeed and later on won 4 gold medals. Even after winning the 4 gold medals, Adolf Hitler still refused to believe he was the best athlete in the Berlin Olympics. This shows the adversity that Jesse Owens had to face during the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

   Next, when Jesse Owens returned from the Olympics to the U.S., he faced racism too. According to biography.com, when Jesse Owens returned to the U.S. he only got offered a few jobs. Meaning that after winning 4 gold medals in the Olympics, he still was facing discrimination in the U.S. He also faced aggression. Which shows some of the ways people treated him. Even after all of this, he didn’t care what people thought about him and raced cars to make money. He also started a marketing business. Even through everything he went through, he still found a way to have a good life. 

  To conclude, Jesse Owens always found a way to live a better life despite everything he went through during his childhood. When he was young and struggling, he had been diagnosed with pneumonia, and during his time in the Olympics he faced racism. When he got to the U.S., he also faced racism and aggression. This shows that despite all the adversities and obstacles he faced, he always managed to overcome them. 

Katherine Johnson by Angelina G.

  Think about people who you admire and how they inspire you. You look at everything they’ve accomplished, pushing through all obstacles, achieving their goals. The one thing they always face is adversity, being judged for being different than everyone else. Katherine Johnson is someone who faced adversity and over came it. She faced it during her early life, after college, and during working for NASA.

  You’ll be amazed to learn, Katherine as a young child loved to count many little things. She loved to learn especially math, and geometry when she got to high school. The website, nasa.gov, states “Katherine loved to learn… Katherine went through school quickly.” I admire her for loving math, as for me I find it difficult to understand and not a subject I’d focus on for my future. But her love for math and good grades led her to finish college only at the age of eighteen. That is quite an accomplishment for an African American female in that time period of the early 1900s.

  Later on, Katherine began to teach after graduating college. Eventually she had to quit due to her husband getting sick and her having to care for her children. But once she was 34, she heard NASA was hiring African American women to solve math problems. This position was often called “computer,” as it was difficult. When Katherine applied, she got rejected. According to the website, nasa.gov, “Katherine applied for one of the jobs, but the jobs were already taken. Still, she did not give up. She applied the next year, and this year NASA hired her.” Here is an example of adversity, being classified into a group of African American women, when really we’re all humans. You already figured that Katherine was different than all the “computers,” she often asked questions and even began going to meetings only men went to and that led her to become a part of NASA. 

  Afterward, Katherine studied how to use geometry for space travel because the United States wanted to send people to the moon. She figured out paths for a spacecraft to orbit. NASA used her math for the project, and it worked; she successfully helped people get to the moon. And with that Katherine worked for NASA for 30 before she retired. According to an article famous.wiki.com,  “Katherine studied how to use geometry for space travel. She figured out the paths for the spacecraft to orbit (go around) Earth and to land on the Moon. NASA used Katherine's math.” Katherine accomplished so much in so little time, while facing adversity. I truly admire her. 

  It only remains for me to say, how wonderful of a woman Katherine was. She faced adversity and overcame it with no bother. She finished school early and even went ahead with her job at NASA. She left a legacy of female and African American success in the field of math and science.

Helen Keller by Osmin S.

 

A lot of people have been successful or faced adversity. Some people used their adversity to overcome things like Helen Keller. Many people have used their adversity and negative things to overcome them and be successful. One such person is Helen Keller, who overcame adversity in her years. Learning how to talk and understand others was hard for her. She had a teacher who would teach signs and objects and other many things.

To begin with, Helen Keller had a hard life growing up and learning other things. According to some sources she was deaf and blind at 9 months old. She grew up in a difficult place with her family. She was deaf and blind but still managed to move around and learn because of her teacher. Further after starting school, her teacher and family taught her many things. One of these things was learning how to speak. Despite this sad beginning, despite being deaf and blind she still learned and how to talk. She was pretty successful with these problems according to Wikipedia.org and Biography.com. 

Helen had a really hard life because she had to learn how to speak and sign languages.  This was due to having to learn how to live with her being deaf and blind. Helen had to go school, but she had a teacher who would teach her things like walking. They would teach her things like water and feeling other objects. Helen was a really smart person. Besides her sad start to life, she showed that others can do it.

Helen Keller was also an American author.  She was born on June 27, 1880, and passed away on June  1,1968. Helen Keller Was the person with deaf blindness to earn a college degree which nice for her. Helen Keller even won the noble peace price she also had 4 siblings and was really into political stuff (Wikipedia.org and biography.com). Helen Keller managed to later on be able to speak because she a teacher and translated who would help her. Helen Keller turned out to be really successful person besides these sad things.

As you can see, Helen Keller was a really good person. She overcame her problems and turned successful. She showed that you could of a lot of things even her problems seemed insurmountable, but they wouldn’t stop her. She did a lot of things others couldn’t do, which was being really good at political things. Helen Keller was a really successful person who accomplished many things that other can’t do now. She had a good life besides her beginning, but she didn’t let it stop her and she turned her adversities into motives for accomplishment.

Lionel Messi by Osmel D.

 

If you look up to your idol, or maybe someone you admire, it is most definitely sure that they have gone through difficulties or so-called “adversity.” Going through adversity is a normal part of our daily lives—some people are fatherless, some have body issues, but we all have faced adversity one way or the other. One person that faced adversity was Lionel Messi, who showed his talent to fix his life at FC Barcelona.

To start with, according to liquidsearch.com, Lionel Messi faced adversity at a young age. He was born in a small town in Rosario, Argentina Santa de Province. If you don’t know Rosario, it is a very bad place in Argentina. It is not so safe place and is full of crime. At the age of 5, Messi started experiencing growth issues or so called “GHD.” This meant that he could possibly stop his career in football. Although he went through this, later on he proved his legacy at FC Barcelona, and he chased his dream. After reaching Barcelona he decided to try his best and become the world’s best player, although pretty much no one believed in him, he knew inside that later they would worship him.

To continue, in sportcasting.com, it says that at the age of 11, is when his condition started striking the hardest. He was explained that he must stop. Fortunately, he was offered a debut at Barcelona and proved that he was worth his price. In April 2005, he had his debut for the team and didn’t fail to impress. He later on went to carry his teammate’s Ronaldinho’s legacy in the club. He ended up becoming a big part for his club later in the future. After his debut, his worth went up to 56,000,000 euros.

Later in the present day, he is one of the world’s best players in the world. He is the best player with the most goals in a single calendar year with 87 goals. He is a 6-time Ballon Do’r winner, and has the most goals for a single club. He is the player with the best conversion rate in the history of football. His highest price on the market was approximately 180,000,000$. Today he is in borderline retirement and plays in the farmer’s league, or also known as ligue. Although he’s a good player, he is struggling to impress at his new club. Also, the 2021 Ballon Dor might be his last one. With better players rising in the horizon, it will be almost impossible for him to participate again. This is his last chance, with Quatar 2022 World Cup.

To wrap it all up, everyone has faced adversity one way or the other and a lot of people end up beating obstacles. Lionel Messi changed his life for the better and made his dreams come true after facing adversity. You can also beat adversity and get out of obstacles you don’t want to be in. Let’s change the world and solve all of our problems!

Bethany Hamilton by Emelin G.

 

Bethany Hamilton is an American professional surfer who suffered a great loss after a shark attack. And as result of that, the shark took her left arm right off. Authorities did find it in a mouth of a shark with a surfboard and debris. But it’s not the shark attack that made her, it was the fact that after the shark attack, she still returned to professional surfing.

Bethany Hamilton was born February 8, 1990, in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. Being raised in a surfing family, along with 2 older brothers, she learned how to handle the waves at an early age. According to the site “biography.com” and “britannica.com,” it says that she started competitive surfing at the age of 8 and by the age of 9 she won her first sponsorship. A member of the Hanalei Surf CO.tea, the home-schooled Hamilton beat beating even more experienced surfers in competition. So in May 2003, Bethany won bother her age group and the open division of Hawaii’s Local Motion/Ezekiel Surf into Summer events. Then shortly after, she finished her second in the open woman’s division of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) National Championships at Sen Clemente, California.

Bethany Hamilton went to surf at Tunnels Beach in Ha’ena with her best friend, her best friend’s father, and also her brother. Bethany was laying on her board. Then suddenly she felt a sudden intense pressure in her left arm while it was pulled back and forth a few times before the feeling had passed. Surprisingly she felt no pain, but she noticed that the water started turning red and the her whole left arm was severed nearly to her shoulder. Her friend’s father fashioned a tourniquet for her injured area to bring everyone to shore safely. They rushed Bethany to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Although she lost 60 percent of her blood due to the attack, she underwent several surgeries, but was then released a few days later.

Bethany Hamilton returned surfing only a month after the attack. She wrote her autobiography in 2004, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to get Back on the Broad. It then became a best seller, and she was honored for her courage. For example, MTV, ESPN, and the United States Sports Academy honored her. Bethany Hamilton went to publish many more books after her autobiography, like Devotions for the Soul Surfer (2006) and Body and Soul: A Girls Guide to a Fit, Fun, and Fabulous Life (2014).

 In conclusion, Bethany Hamilton was a very strong and courageous woman who loved to surf and even after a tragic shark attack that took her left arm, continued to surf. She even wrote famous books that talk more about her mindset. She became famous for her bravery and courage.