ANNE FRANK (June 12, 1929 – Early March 1945)
Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank, born in Frankfurt, Germany, may be one of the most inspiring children to have ever lived. In her famous dairy, she teaches readers a lesson of strength, faith and endurance – lessons she learned while hiding from Nazi insurgents during World War II.
The diary, given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from June 12, 1942 until August 1, 1944. The diary records experiences she and her family endured while they were forced to hide in secret rooms in her father’s office building during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
The family had to hide once persecutions against the Jewish population increased, and survived as well as possible, considering the circumstances. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Seven months after the arrest, both she and her sister Margot died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Her father Otto, the only survivor of the group, returned to Amsterdam after the war. It was there that he discovered his daughter’s diary, somehow still preserved. Otto wanted to spread his daughter’s message, and in 1947, the diary was published. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl.
Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl has since been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Greek, and other languages; it has been shown on stage and screen, and has lived on to be one of the most cherished works in recent literary history.
THANDIWE CHAMA (February 15, 1991 – Present)
In 2007, a 16-year-old Zambian girl named Thandiwe Chama won the International Children’s Peace Prize. The award consists of a statuette called “the Nkosi” and 100,000 Euros, which are to be awarded to a direct aid project in the spirit of the young winner’s efforts.
What did Thandiwe do to win such a prestigious honor? In 1999, when she was only eight-years-old, her school was closed because there were no teachers who could educate students. Thandiwe refused to accept this fate of no education. She has since said, “It’s so important to know that also a child has rights. At school I learned about rights. And I knew then that this was something I wanted to fight for. Because if children are given an opportunity, they for sure can contribute in making this world a better place.”
Thandiwe then led 60 other children as they walked to find another school where they could learn. The group of children came upon the Jack Cecup School, to which they were later all accepted.
Since that event 10 years ago, Thandiwe has been fighting for the right to education for all children. Thandiwe regularly raises awareness in the community by speaking in church about children and AIDS – and even co-wrote and co-illustrated a booklet called “The Chicken with AIDS”, teaching young children about the perils of the disease.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, considered the greatest musical genius in the western world, has often been called a “child prodigy.” He began composing minuets at the age of five and symphonies at nine.
At age six, Mozart began entertaining audiences at major cities and courts with his sister Maria. By the time he was eight years old, Mozart had already published four sonatas for claviers with an accompanying violin. He wrote the operas "Bastien und Bastienne" at the age of 12, "La Finta Semplice" at the age of 13, "Ascanio" at the age of 15 and "Lucio Silla" at the age of 16. It was also at this age that he became the concertmaster to Archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo of Salzburg. As concertmaster, Mozart composed a large number of sacred and secular works.
Over the centuries, scientists have studied the affect of Mozart's music on listeners. It has been found to calm babies in nurseries and increase brain focus and activity. Studies show that more learning takes place in classrooms where Mozart's is played in the background. Interestingly, mathematics is one of the subjects where learning is most enhanced by listening to Mozart.
Mozart was more than a childhood prodigy, composer and musician. In adulthood, he became a vocal leftist and a revolutionary. It has been said that the French Revolution started where Mozart's works left off. He inserted his cultural beliefs subtly into his music, and his operas and other works show he sided with the common man against the aristocracy.
SHIRLEY TEMPLE (April 23, 1928 – Present)
Shirley Temple Black (née Shirley Jane Temple) is a well-known and highly acclaimed actress, singer and dancer, and perhaps one of Hollywood’s most recognized talents. At the height of her career in entertainment, she won critical acclaim and became the top-grossing star at the American box office during the Great Depression. As a child, her work granted families the opportunity to escape from the harsh realities of life and into a world made of Good Ship Lollipops and animal crackers in their soup.
In 1935, Shirley Temple received a special miniature Academy Award Oscar "in grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year 1934." She also received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998, and was presented with a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2006.
As an adult, Shirley began giving more to the world than entertainment, as she became a politician and a diplomat representing the United States.
In 1969, Shirley was appointed a delegate to the United Nations by President Richard M. Nixon and in 1976 became the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States. In 1987, she was designated the first Honorary Foreign Service Officer in U.S. history by then U.S. Secretary of State, George Shultz.
Shirley served on the board of directors of both large corporations and non-profit organizations. Most notable include: The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte, Fireman's Fund Insurance. Her the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of American Ambassadors, the World Affairs Council, the United States Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the United Nations Association, and the U.S. Citizen's Space Task Force.
LOUIS BRAILLE (January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852)
Millions of blind people are able to read and write as clearly as people with clear vision. This was not always the case and once it was thought that it would never be the case.
So who created the preferred mode of communication for the blind? You may be surprised to find out that it wasn’t a scientist of researcher who developed these methods. Rather, the vehicle for reading was invented in 1824 by a 15-year-old named Louis Braille. Louis was three when he became blind in one eye and soon lost the vision in the other.
Despite of his loss of sight, Louis knew he wanted to maintain communication with the world. So he set out to develop a fail-proof system: a system of six dots that allowed for easy recognition of letters with a simple touch of a fingertip and made writing much easier for blind people.
Two years later, at seventeen, Louis adapted his method to music notation. Blind individuals who might never have become musicians or composers now had an opportunity. Later, he added a system that would make reading and writing mathematical notations easier for the blind. All of his hard work and determination allowed the Braille language to change the worlds of music, science, mathematics and literature.
Older individuals had tried various methods that were more complicated and less productive than that of the teenager who changed life for millions of people, those both with and without full visual capabilities. Today, the six-dot Braille system is used in virtually every language and location in the world.
NATASHA HULL-RICHTER
Even wonder who was responsible for California's 2006 voter-verifiable paper trial? Ever wonder how the California Democratic Party got a progressive caucus?
Natasha Hull-Richter might not be a name you’ve ever heard before, but she is a political dynamo who has changed the face of politics in California. At just nine years old, Natasha began her fight for voters' rights. In 2003, 11-year-old Natasha co-wrote a resolution with her 13-year-old brother Alexandar to protect voter accuracy. Within six months of co-writing the resolution, Natasha had convinced the California Democratic Party to back the resolution and California's Secretary of State to guarantee Californians a paper trail for the election three years later.
At age 12, Natasha helped to found the most progressive Democratic club in America, and then the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party by age 13. The next year, she created the National Youth Rights Association of Orange County. By age 17, she was a major participant in politics and widely respected by popular government leaders.
Young persons under eighteen had to get registered Democrats to co-sponsor their resolutions if the California Democratic Party was to hear them at all. Natasha obtained the required co-sponsors. After Natasha worked to create the largest first meeting ever of a California Democratic Party caucus, she convinced the hundreds of people in attendance to unanimously adopt bylaws ensuring that minors and immigrants would be included as members and officers. She was then elected an officer by the highest number of votes any officer of that caucus has received to the present time.
However, at the next executive board meeting, the election results were overthrown and she, youth members and immigrants were told they had lost their membership and speaking rights in the caucus. Though democracy had been undone in her own caucus, that same weekend, Natasha convinced the California Democratic Party to call for the inclusion of youth members in all caucuses of the Democratic Party and for the voting age to be lowered.
To date, Natasha has written over 50 resolutions and over 150 proposed California Democratic Party platform planks. Some of the boldest steps taken by the California Democratic Party were based on her resolutions and proposed platform planks. Natasha has worked with legislators and leaders to change the face of politics.
OM PRAKASH GURJAR (July 3, 1992 – Present)
At the age of five, Om was taken away from his parents and, for three years, forced to work as a child laborer. A group of activists called Bachpan Bachao Andolan staged his rescue, and afterward, Om became an activist himself.
He campaigned for free education in his native Rajasthan. He then helped to set up a network of “child friendly villages”, places where children’s rights are respected and child labor is prohibited. He also set up a network of supporters that work to make sure all children obtain a birth certificate as a way to help protect them from exploitation. Om notes that registration is the first step towards enshrining children’s rights, allowing them to prove their age, and helping to protect them from slavery, trafficking, forced marriage or serving as a child soldiers.
In 2006, Om was awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize by former South African President FW de Klerk.
MAKENZIE SNYDER
For the last nine years, 16-year-old Makenzie Snyder has touched the lives of an estimated 60,000 foster children with her generosity and activism.
She has been sending stuffed animal-filled duffle bags to foster children since she was 7 years old. She says her mission is to cheer up foster kids who have no real family and no one to really care for them.
At age 7, Snyder and her two older brothers won an essay contest on the topic "How to Change the World." The prize was a trip to Paris to participate in the World Children's Summit. While at the summit, she met two foster children. Through this experience she learned that most foster children must bundle up their belongings in garbage bags when moving from home to home.
Snyder began thinking about what she could do to help those children, when an idea came to her: she remembered how comforting stuffed animals can be to children when they are sad or lonely. Soon, she began frequenting garage sales around Maryland collecting items to send to foster kids. She named her project “Children to Children”.
Since starting “Children to Children”, Snyder has raised more than $1 million in cash and merchandise donations and has collected thousands of duffel bags and stuffed animals. Some of her contributors include talk show hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah Winfrey.
CLAUDETTE COLVIN (September 5, 1939 – Present)
Many people credit Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King with bringing about desegregation in the South. While they worked hard to continue the fight, their inspiration actually came from a 15-year-old girl who had the courage to stand up for what is right. It is true that in the height of the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks got on a bus, refused to give up her seat to a white man, was dragged off in handcuffs and placed in a cell. But most people do not know that the first person to attempt this was 15-year-old Claudette Colvin.
Nine months later, Claudette’s teacher, Rosa Parks, boarded the same bus on which Claudette had been arrested. The teacher repeated exactly what Claudette had done and was arrested where Claudette was arrested. Rosa Parks knew what would happen since it had already happened to her student Claudette. Essentially, she put herself through a copy-cat performance for the purpose of helping end segregation in America.
The young girl, who changed the world and inspired Rosa Parks to do as she had done, is unmentioned in most history books. Most Americans have no idea who Claudette Colvin is. Claudette was part of "Browder v Gayle," the lawsuit that ended segregation.
ALEXANDRA “ALEX” SCOTT (January 18, 1996 – August 2004)
Alexandra "Alex" Scott, born in Manchester, Connecticut, and her family received the devastating news that she had neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer when she was just one year old.
Doctors told Alex's parents that if she beat her cancer it was doubtful that she would ever walk again. But even at such a young age, Alex showed she was a fighter. Just two weeks after the doctors’ pronouncement, Alex slightly moved her leg when her parents asked her if she could kick.
One year later, Alex was continuing to beat the odds by crawling and standing up with the help of leg braces. She continued to fight until she built enough strength and learned how to walk. Within the next year they found out that her tumors had started growing again. One day after her fourth birthday, Alex received a stem cell transplant. She told her mother that after leaving the hospital, she’d like to start a lemonade stand to raise money to find a cure for neuroblastoma. Later that year, Alex’s Lemonade Stand was born, and she raised an amazing $2,000 for "her hospital."
Alex continued her yearly tradition and held lemonade stands in her front yard to benefit childhood cancer research. Word got out about Alex, a young girl fighting her own cancer, but bravely fighting to help other children in her shoes. Soon, people from all over the world, began opening their own lemonade stands and donating the proceeds to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Sadly, Alex passed away in 2004 at only 8 years old, but in her life she and her supporters raised more than $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Alex’s legacy lives on, and her Lemonade Stand continues to operate in communities around the world today.
