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George Thomas Leland Research Paper

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Throughout the world, there are thousands of individuals who suffer from the challenges of poverty which include homelessness and hunger. These are not recent issues, but issues which have been developing for years. Through households and towns in the Unites States and abroad these issues seem to always be second on the agenda. However for one congressman, George Thomas (Mickey) Leland, this was not the case. Leland was able to raise attention to the issue through his career. Although he faced criticism from the politicians around him, he never stopped fighting for the cause he believed in, as he became a martyr to eradicate world hunger. When individuals turned away from poverty and hunger Leland coarsely raised attention for the cause even if it would cause him his life. …show more content…

His mother worked her way through college until finally becoming a teacher. Leland studied at the Texas Southern University, and become a pharmacist, but throughout much of his early life, he always rallied for civil rights. Leland also worked with several organizations throughout his university setting up a free clinic and other aids for the poverty-stricken areas of Houston. Leland was elected to work in the Texas state house of representatives in 1972 after an arrest made him realize that working within the political system instead of against it might prove more effective. . Later in his career, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, a position in which he would be re-elected for five terms. To serve his consitiunetns which were made up of minorities, African Amercian, and Hispanic Leland learned Spanish to have the ability to represent them fully. Leland was able to make his first trip to Africa thought the state

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