# Positive, non-military role models from Africa and South America **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957 "2011-05-23T23:24:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/1 "2011-05-23T23:24:45Z")
For a recent second-grade project, I and the other teachers on my grade level asked students to research different important people from around the world, write a monologue from the perspective of the person, and join a “wax museum” exhibit: visitors from other classes came by, pressed a button on the student’s desk, and the student (dressed as their figure) would come alive and tell about themselves. We excluded the United States and Canada from the project on the basis that students would learn plenty about American and Canadian figures through other sources (and also because our school’s theme is Global Scholars). Each of the four classes took on a different area of the world: one class was Europe, one was Asia, one was Central/South America and the Caribbean, and one was Africa. We limited ourselves to people that were fairly benign (Gandhi qualifies, Eva Peron does not) and to people whose influence was not primarily a military influence (teaching war to second-graders can be fraught). Artists were fine, as long as their work is something we can expose second-graders to. Europe was really easy to come up with figures. Asia took a bit of work. Africa and the Americas were really damned hard. So, my question to you: if you were to come up with a list of 4-6 figures from each of these regions that met our criteria, who would you choose? Bonus points if you can come up with a list without doing a lot of research first. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/2 "2011-05-23T23:43:39Z")
Embarrassingly difficult: Kofi Annan Desmond Tutu Nelson Mandela Richard Leakey Paulo Freire Isabelle Allende Gabriel Garcia Marquez Jorge Borges I didn’t include athletes, though I could round out both lists with some upstanding footballers. I also didn’t include ancient leaders, though I guess they might be fair game (e.g., Mansa Munsa, Ramesses II, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/3 "2011-05-23T23:57:24Z")
Fela Anikulapo Kuti Wangari Maathai Julius Nyerere Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/4 "2011-05-23T23:58:11Z")
What’s so wrong with teaching about war? Kids love war-faking GI Joe stuff and all that. Enrapture them with the exploits of Shaka Zulu. But I second Borges though. And Anwar Sadat, Cecil Rhodes (for his institution of Rhodes Scholarships), and Cheops are goode options/ Maybe Moses if he counts as being African (as he was born in Egypt) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/5 "2011-05-24T00:22:12Z")
Some feedback. Don’t read this until you’ve tried yourself: Our African people were Nelson Mandela, Biko, Kofi Annan, and [Wangari Maathai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai) (the last leads an organization of women devoted to planting trees, more or less). We dropped Tutu because we didn’t want to have two more-or-less identical South African figures (yeah, I know they’re not remotely identical, I hope you get what I’m saying), and then added Biko in when we realized how, er, complex it would be to teach second-graders about Cleopatra or any other ancient Egyptian. Oh, right, we also did an African drummer, I forget his name. Our Americas people were Mary Jane Seacole (a nurse along the lines of Florence Nightingale), Pele the King of Futbol, Edwidge Danticat (probably a weak choice, but the only children’s author we could think of), and Frida Kahlo. We considered and rejected authors of books for adults, believing these would not be engaging figures for children. **QSH** , I’m not going to explain my reasons for not doing military figures here; if you want to start another thread go for it, but the parameters in the OP are the ones I’m interested in. We spent a long time talking about whether to include military figures in this unit and decided against it for what I consider to be sound developmental and pedagogical reasons. If folks would be willing, a very short description of each of your suggestions would be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/6 "2011-05-24T00:26:18Z")
For comparison, our people from Europe were: Albert Einstein Marie Curie Roald Dahl Jane Goodall (I thought she should have been for Africa, but we ultimately decided to include her in Europe–Leakey, I think, would’ve been the same) From Asia we had: Gandhi Mother Theresa Shigeru Miyamoto (inventor of Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers, etc.) [Queen Rania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Rania_of_Jordan), an interesting human rights activist. Emphasis on social justice people, with some artsy and scientific types thrown in, in other words. It’s really really hard to find any scientists from Africa and South America who have studied something second graders can possibly understand, although Leakey and Goodall would possibly qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/7 "2011-05-24T00:33:21Z")
Alberto Santos-Dumont. A bicycle-driven semi-rigid airship might appeal to second graders. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/8 "2011-05-24T00:44:57Z")
the great african leaders in the 60s and 70s who headed stable and prosperous republics: milton obote (uganda) julius nyerere (tanzania) jomo kenyata (kenya) ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/9 "2011-05-24T00:56:43Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > the great african leaders in the 60s and 70s who headed stable and prosperous republics: > > milton obote (uganda) > julius nyerere (tanzania) > jomo kenyata (kenya) Kenyatta was a terrorist. No politicians, religious figures, or philsophers? ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/10 "2011-05-24T02:16:45Z")
kenyatta a terrorist? he studied under a a scottish-run school, studied in england and other european countries for 15 years, was a politician for a moderate party composed mainly of intellectuals. he was accused of being a member of the mau-mau group and unjustly imprisoned for 7 years. he was released after it was proven he had no ties with the group. three years later he became prime minister. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/11 "2011-05-24T02:57:48Z")
Wait, you are having an 8-year-old be a Steve Biko wax figure that comes to life and tells you his life story? I hope you gloss over the end. I don’t want to fight the hypothetical, but it seems like learning about Simon Bolivar would be considerably less traumatic than learning about Apartheid and all the people killed and tortured by it. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/12 "2011-05-24T03:02:36Z")
Yeah, I declined to put Biko or Ken Saro-Wiwa on my list. A little heavy for the kids to have to say, “and then the government murdered me.” ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/13 "2011-05-24T03:11:29Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > milton obote (uganda) > julius nyerere (tanzania) > jomo kenyata (kenya) Whoa, [Obote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Obote)? Really? I’ve heard him referred to as being even worse of a despot than Idi Amin (who overthrew him). > [@](#): > > As prime minister, Obote was implicated in a gold smuggling plot, together with Idi Amin, then deputy commander of the Ugandan armed forces. When the Parliament demanded an investigation of Obote and the ousting of Amin, he suspended the constitution and declared himself President in March 1966, allocating to himself almost unlimited power under state of emergency rulings. > […] > Obote’s regime, described as “dictatorial and barbaric,” terrorized, harassed, and tortured people. Obote’s secret police General Service Unit, led by Obote’s cousin, was responsible for many cruelties. > […] > It has been estimated that approximately 100,000 people died as a result of fighting between Obote’s Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) and the guerrillas. I _really_ don’t think he meet’s the OP’s criterion of “fairly benign”. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/14 "2011-05-24T03:24:48Z")
Cuban Carlos Finlay’s story might be of interest to an 8 year old. He identified mosquitos as the vector for yellow fever and probably helped save thousands if not millions of lives by doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/positive-non-military-role-models-from-africa-and-south-america/582957/15 "2011-05-24T03:27:00Z")
As for Africa, don’t forget transplant pioneer Christian Barnard