Howard Thurman (1899-1981) was hailed by Life magazine as one of the great preachers of the 20th century. He was a nationally recognized theologian, distinguished religious leader, and prolific author whose radical nonviolent philosophy played a pivotal role in shaping the civil rights movement. As the first Black dean of Boston University's Marsh Chapel, he became a spiritual adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. He wrote over 20 published books, such as Meditations of the Heart, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman, and Disciplines of the Spirit.

Yolanda Pierce is dean of the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC, and a professor of religion and literature and of womanist theology. She is the author of In My Grandmother's House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit and Hell Without Fires: Slavery, Christianity, and the Antebellum Spiritual Narrative.