Through the years, the voices of numerous amounts of “normal” people emerged from the shadows to pave the way for us all. Those specific people had to fight through oppression and pain, in order to be heard by those in the present, as well as the future.

At the turn of the century, the voices of the Native-Americans, African-Americans and females of all colors, were struggling to be heard by society. A strong Native-American warrior known as Black Elk, grew up striving for and succeeding in receiving the vision of life. Although it was a difficult task, he decided to “tell you the story of my life . . . if it were only the story of my life, I think I would not tell it”(Niehardt 1). Telling their story is very important for most people because it has the ability to be heard and utilized in the future. Black’s vision for telling his story was not to be just heard, but to help a young man, who embodies the same story, succeed in life. The struggle for the African-American has been on going since 1619 at the start of slavery. Although the 13th Amendment technically ended slavery. It was not until the early 1900s when W.E.B. DuBois realized that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, ---the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia, Africa, in America and the Islands of the sea”(DuBois13). By DuBois acknowledging the problem that is evident at this time, opens the door for the people in the future.

Females had a difficult time trying to be heard, mainly because they struggled withe being oppressed for so long, eventually leading to major health problems. In the early 1900s, doctors did not recognize the complex health problems that were present in the human body, like our physicians today.