World Leaders
The World Leaders Gallery was born in 2004 as a part of the 10th Anniversary of the
United We Walk Celebration. Our student organization, S.H.A.R.E (Students Helping
Accepting Reaching Ethnicity), wanted to create a forum in which students could
recognize those leaders who had devoted their lives to the causes of protecting
freedom, fighting for justice, and working toward peace. The gallery features 8 X 10
portraits of each of the selected leaders and was unveiled in January 2004 as a part
of the candlelight vigil. Our goal was to add another leader each year in order to
grow the gallery and enhance its effect.
Selecting the first group of gallery members was extremely rewarding. Each student drew on his or her own cultural background to identify world leaders that should be featured. Those selected in the first year represented a diverse group of individuals who embodied the ideals that that the gallery was designed to highlight. Among them were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The gallery serves as a living testament to the importance of diversity and the contributions and sacrifices that great leaders have made internationally in the ongoing fight for justice and peace. It is very gratifying to see that this important gallery will remain open year after year and that students will continue to elect additional members as a part of the United We Walk Celebration. At this defining moment in our country's history, it is crucial that we continue to identify and recognize those individuals who have set a positive example so that we can learn from them and become the kind of leaders that will work toward positive social change.
Michael Rubyan, Past Student Co-Chair, University of Michigan Senior, Pre-Med Studies, January 2009
Twenty six World Leaders in the cause of Unity and Peace are honored, the twenty-six honorees include:
