This weekend, Nashua's own Yellow Taxi Productions opened "Six Nights in the Black Belt," an original play by Gate City resident Lowell Williams that tells the story of New Hampshire civil rights martyr Jonathan Daniels.

If you missed it, NHPR's exquisite "Front Porch" talked to Williams and director James Phillips about the ins and outs of creating a play from history.

I am ashamed to admit I had not heard of Daniels until I came to New Hampshire, but I am fascinated by his story. In a split second, he came between a black teenager, Ruby Sales, and a shotgun blast, saving her life.

In his valedictory address to his classmates at the Virginia Military Institute, Daniels asked, "When IS the man – a man? We have spent four years in preparation for SOMETHING."

In 1961, he had no way of knowing that four years later, his "SOMETHING" would be to give the ultimate sacrifice of his own life to save another.

What is in some people to have the courage and selflessness to not only stand up for what they believe in, but also be willing to die for it?

Tonight, the movie theaters will be packed with folks checking out the third installment of the "Spider-Man" series. Not to take anything away from the acting chops of Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, et al, but I am hoping that people remember what true heroism entails - not superpowers or radioactive arachnids, but the stuff Jonathan Daniels was made of - an ordinary man of flesh and blood who gave his life in a moment of extraordinary courage.