Some religious movements, such as the Society of Friends (Quakers) and Jainism with Ahimsa, are known for the practice of nonviolence. There are people who adopt nonviolence in midlife, such as St. Francis of Assisi.
People who eat a vegetarian or vegan diet, and those who support animal rights, usually oppose any violence by humans against animals.
Abolitionism
Abolitionism was a movement that wanted to end the practice of slavery in Europe and in America. It was mainly active during the 18th and 19th centuries. Until the 18th century, few people criticized slavery. But thinkers of the Enlightenment started to criticize it, because in their opinion slavery was against human rights. Communities like the Quakers thought that slavery was contradicting with Christianity.
Race-based slavery was established in the parts of British North America, New France, and Spanish America that would become the U.S. in the 16th and 17th centuries. By the beginning of the 18th century, enslavement of black Africans was powering the economy in these areas. Most opposition to slavery was from enslaved people themselves.
During the American Revolution, beginning in 1775, the Virginia Governor, Lord Dunmore promised freedom to slaves and indenture servants "able and willing to take up arms" with the British. This proclamation would give freedom to the indentured servants and slaves held by the rebelling colonists, and wouldn't effect the loyalists. Many of the former slaves would die of disease, in fact 8 times as many blacks died of disease than died in battle. When the war ended, most slaves who decided to fight with the British were returned to servitude. Some black Loyalists were taken to Canada and elsewhere.
The American Army of the revolution contained many blacks, most of them coming from New England. The most significant black regiment was the 1st Rhode Island. The Regiment was created in 1778 and consisted of mostly blacks. Upon joining the regiment, the commander, Colonel Christopher Greene, would release any slave from servitude.
Following drafting, and signing of the new United States Constitution, blacks in the country were completely disenfranchised, and most remained slaves. Slavery began to decline. Most northern states outlawed its practice shortly after the Revolution, and in the south, Tobacco, the primary cash crop, was losing value In 1794, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. This new invention helped to increase the profitability of cotton by mechanically removing its seeds. After 1800 the amount of cotton produced in the United States would double every 10 years. By the middle of the century, the United States produced three quarters of the worlds cotton.
The Haitian Revolution, a slave rebellion that lasted from 1791 to 1804, changed the whole direction of the slave system. In the next 100 years, slavery would be legally abolished in many of the colonies controlled by European empires.
The Outsiders (novel)
The Outsiders is a novel by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she began writing the novel and 17 when it was published. "The Outsiders" is the lifestory of fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Michael Curtis. Hinton explores a multitude of themes throughout the story, such as friendship, and coming of age. They are seen by following two rival groups, the Greasers and the Socs (pronounced "soashes" by the author, short for "Socials"), who are separated by status.
The book's story is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is never said in the book. The book was made into a movie in 1983. It was also made into a television series in 1990.
The story starts when Ponyboy Curtis leaves a movie showing area and the Socs gang jumps him. His brother Darry Curtis saves him. He also has another brother, Sodapop Curtis. Ponyboy talks about Socs and Greasers gang and how they are apart. The Socs were the Westside rich kids, and the greasers were of the lowest class. Later, some drunk Socs try to kill Ponyboy and his friend, Johnny Cade, kills Bob Sheldon, a Soc and they go hide in a church. While they are gone the church catches on fire and they save some kids who are trapped inside. Unfortunately, Johnny breaks his back and dies a week later. Dally Winston, his friend, is so sad that Johnny is dead that he robs a store, waves an empty gun and is killed by Ponyboy
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary tactics of nonviolent resistance.
The American author Henry David Thoreau pioneered the modern theory behind this practice in his 1849 essay "Civil Disobedience", originally titled "Resistance to Civil Government".
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (also known as Mahatma Gandhi) used non-violent civil disobedience in South Africa in a campaign for civil rights for the people who came from India and lived in South Africa. This campaign was from 1893-1914. When Gandhi returned to India, he used civil disobedience in the campaign for the independence of India in 1930 from the British rule, when India was a British colony.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and young activists in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s also adopted civil disobedience techniques, during and after the Vietnam War.
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817– May 6, 1862) was an American author, naturalist and philosopher. His friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson had a great impact on him, and supported him in many ways. Emerson provided a place for Thoreau to live at Walden Pond, which inspired his book, "Walden". He is best known for his book "water"
"Walden", a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, "Civil Disobedience", an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.
Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. He spent his childhood with his three brothers and sisters: John, Helen, and younger sister Sophia. His father owned a local pencil factory, and his mother rented out parts of the family home to boarders - people who come from other places. Thoreau received his education at the public school in Concord, the private Concord Academy, and graduated from Harvard College.
One day in the summer of 1841, Henry David Thoreau was worried about money after leaving his job at his father's pencil factory. Suddenly, the most famous writer at the time, Ralph Waldo Emerson, knocked on his door. Emerson asked him to work as a live-in handyman at his house. During the days he lived with Emerson, Thoreau began to have dreams of becoming a writer.
As the government needed money for the Mexican-American War, Henry David Thoreau refused to pay a direct tax for the war. This was his first protest against the government. He thought war was a bad thing, so it was necessary to resist government.  That led to him being put into jail. Although people gave him advice to pay the tax, he still didn't pay it. He didn't fear the government and at the same time inspired other people to join this protest. The night in the jail allowed him to start writing his essay, "Civil Disobedience", In the notes, he talked about the thought process of active, stated refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws or demands, orders of the state, and commands of a government. After twenty years, the notes were printed into a book by the same name, and read by many people, including Martin Luther King Jr.