Rosa Parks became known as the "first lady of civil rights" when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus for a white passenger. Ms. Parks believed that standing up to injustice was her path toward true freedom.
San Francisco restaurateur George Mardikian tells of his immigration from Eastern Europe to the United States, and he explains how he tries to repay the warm embrace Americans have given him.
In 1947, Jackie Robinson pioneered the integration of American professional athletics by becoming the first black player in Major League Baseball. From a This I Believe essay recorded in 1952, he discusses his fight against prejudice.
In his 1953 memoir, “The Seeking,” Will Thomas detailed his family’s experience of moving to an all-white New England town. His essay explores how his own bigotry once shaped his beliefs.
Financier and elder statesman Bernard Baruch found his beliefs shaken by the atrocities of World War II and the advent of the hydrogen bomb. But by believing in courage, intelligence and reason, Baruch is able to feel hope for the future.
Inspired by the generosity of his parents, University of Louisville sociology professor Charles H. Parrish believed in the importance of helping others and always looking for the good in people. By doing so, Parrish said we can catch a vision of God.
In spite of his successful career as a science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein's beliefs are more down to earth. Mr. Heinlein believed in the decency of his neighbors, and the future of the human race.
From the 1950s series, Egyptian-born Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi tells how he left his homeland to gain spiritual and intellectual liberty. The artist and scientist believed freedom was a synonym for life itself, and a precious treasure deserved by all.
Margaret Mead says she can’t separate what she believes as a person from what she believes as an anthropologist. And she believes humans beings, as part of a greater biological whole, have a responsibility to everyone else on the planet.
