Commitment means that it is possible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a purpose or cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies.

In 1944 Thurman left his tenured position at Howard to help the Fellowship of Reconciliation establish the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco California. He was Dean of Chapel at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades wrote 21 books and in 1944 helped found a multicultural church. The university holds the Howard Thurman Papers and the Sue Bailey Thurman Papers where they are catalogued and available to researchers.

Howard Thurman (1899 – April 10 1981) was an influential American author philosopher theologian educator and civil rights leader.