KUED Programs

An artillery officer in the Soviet army in WWII, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was sentenced to serve eight years in labor camps, and three additional years in enforced exile, for sending a personal letter containing "disrespectful remarks about Stalin." Solzhenitsyn believed it was his mandate to expose the totalitarian nature of the Soviet regime. His nightmarish novel informed by his experience in the Soviet prison camps earned Solzhenitsyn the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel (1928-present) is an acclaimed writer, professor, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. The author has penned more than 50 books in various genres, including memoirs of the horrors witnessed during the Holocaust. Elie continues his work toward ending repression, racism, and violent hatred across the globe.

Preacher and activist Dr. King (1929-68) led the pivotal protests of the Civil Rights movement, including the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, the 1963 March on Washington, and the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery. The youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (at age 35), Dr. King is a human rights icon and one of the greatest speakers in American history.

The road to becoming the first black president of South Africa came at a heavy price for Nelson Mandela (1918-present). After serving 27 years of a lifetime sentence as a fighter against apartheid, Mandela provided a beacon for justice leading to a worldwide rallying call for his release. Mandela continues to speak out of the conviction in his heart as an advocate for many social and human rights causes.