Presenter:  Matthew O’Brien
Faculty Advisor:  Wil Rivers
My phone # is 6332, meobri01@stlawu.edu

Poster Presentation

This study was on the life and other facts about Thoreau with a main focus on his work with Civil Disobedience.  This aspect of Thoreau is not usually discussed about due to the overwhelming popularity of some of his other works such as his experiences at Walden Pond.  In actuality, Thoreau was the pioneer of the whole idea of Civil Disobedience.  He was a strong supporter of the abolitionist movement that took place in the United States.  This is most clearly expressed in his piece “Civil Disobedience”, written after he was arrested for not paying his poll tax.  Thoreau was against this poll tax and any other tax like it because it supported a government in which he did not believe in.  It was his work in this area that would greatly affect the work of many in the future, the most notable being Ghandi and Martin Luther King Junior.  King and Ghandi both practiced Thoreau’s nonviolent forms of disobediance.  On this presentation a brief discription of Thoreau and his life will be given.  However, the main portion of the presentation will focus on Thoreau’s work with Civil Disobediance and also it will show how truly great and vast his impact was, and is, in this area.