From surviving impossible odds to fighting against oppression, these remarkable individuals showed extraordinary strength in the face of adversity. Join us as we explore the stories of those who turned their struggles into triumph, featuring Olympic athletes, war heroes, civil rights leaders, and more who refused to give up when life pushed them to their limits.
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00:00It is an idea for which I am prepared to die.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at people from modern history who found success by enduring hardships that would break most of us.
00:13Hate is self-destructive. If you hate somebody, you're not hurting a person you hate, you're hurting yourself.
00:20Wilma Rudolph
00:21Wilma Rudolph shattered women's records whenever she performed.
00:24Before she became the fastest woman in the world, Wilma Rudolph had to learn how to walk.
00:28Born premature in 1940, she later contracted polio as a child.
00:32The disease left her with a twisted leg.
00:34Doctors said she'd never walk again, but Rudolph flat out refused to listen.
00:38By age 12, she stopped using her leg brace.
00:40By 16, she was running at the Olympics.
00:42Four years later, she attended her second Olympic Games in Rome.
00:45There, she became the first American woman to win three track and field gold medals in a single year.
00:49She would go on to fight for desegregation and spent the rest of her life dedicated to training future generations of child athletes.
00:55Stephen Hawking
00:56Stephen Hawking will forever be known for having one of the most brilliant minds.
01:10The brilliant theoretical physicist was diagnosed with motor neuron disease at 21.
01:14As the decades progressed, his condition gradually left him with paralysis.
01:18Throughout his life, he continued to make groundbreaking contributions to cosmology, helping humanity understand our universe.
01:24He was allegedly forced to endure further hardships in his personal life as his career took off.
01:28Although my increasing disabilities were greatly affecting my life more and more, I was fiercely reluctant to accept nursing care.
01:37After divorcing his first wife, Jane, he married his nurse, Elaine Mason, in 1995.
01:42During their marriage, allegations of physical abuse surfaced, leading to political investigations.
01:46Hawking denied these claims and no charges were filed.
01:49I have a strong feeling that disabled people should not be discriminated against and should have assistance with their difficulties.
01:58Malala Yousafzai
01:59Let me say the words the Taliban never wanted her to hear.
02:04Happy 16th birthday, Malala.
02:07Malala Yousafzai was only a kid when she took a stand against one of the most oppressive groups on Earth.
02:12At the tender age of 11, she anonymously started speaking out against the Taliban's oppression in Pakistan's Swat Valley.
02:18Her father, also an education activist, had taught her to use her voice in defense of girls' right to be educated.
02:23Her rising fame made her a target.
02:25There is a moment when you have to choose whether to be silent or to stand up.
02:35In 2012, a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus and shot her in the head.
02:39Miraculously, she survived.
02:40Instead of silencing her, the attack only amplified her voice.
02:43Malala became a global symbol of resistance, winning the Nobel Peace Prize at 17.
02:47She continued her activism, proving that no bullet could stop her from fighting.
02:52She had become septic.
02:54It was obvious that she had a very serious, life-threatening infection.
02:57Louis Zamperini
02:58Japan followed American athletes closer than Americans did.
03:03It would better serve Japan's purpose to send Louis Zamperini on to Japan to become a prisoner of war and to make broadcasts.
03:10That's why my life was spared.
03:12The phrase, running for his life, took on new meaning for Louis Zamperini.
03:15An Olympic athlete turned World War II airman.
03:18He survived a plane crash only to spend 47 days lost at sea.
03:21While stranded, he and his crewmates fended off both sharks and starvation.
03:24Zamperini was ultimately captured by the Japanese.
03:27Locked away in a POW camp, he was subjected to two years of unbearable torture.
03:32I always wanted to come to Tokyo.
03:36Be careful what you wish for, fellow.
03:38Sadly, freedom and the war's end brought little peace to Louis Zamperini.
03:42Haunted by PTSD, he found himself with alcohol use disorder and rage.
03:46Eventually, Louis found his faith and through God also found his way to forgiveness and peace.
03:50He turned his pain into purpose, dedicating his life to helping others.
03:53The most important thing in my Christian life was to know that I not only forgave him verbally,
04:01but to see him face to face and tell him that I forgave him.
04:05Nelson Mandela
04:06I stand here before you, not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.
04:20Before he was a global icon, Nelson Mandela was a revolutionary.
04:23As a leader in the African National Congress, he fought against apartheid through protests, strikes, and eventually sabotage.
04:29His efforts earned him a life sentence, but prison bars couldn't hold back Nelson Mandela's spirit.
04:34Jailed for 27 years, he endured hard labor, isolation, and relentless attempts to break his will.
04:39This, his final plea for freedom and democracy for all South Africans, was to echo down the 27 years he was to remain a political prisoner.
04:47Mandela chose resilience over bitterness.
04:49Upon his release in 1990, he led the charge to dismantle apartheid peacefully, negotiating a democratic transition rather than seeking revenge.
04:57In 1994, he became South Africa's first black president.
05:00Even after stepping down, he remained a global icon for justice.
05:04Thousands attended his funeral in 2013, which was also watched by millions more on television.
05:09I wanted to be presented as I am.
05:12As DC Comics was first conceptualizing Wonder Woman in the pages of their comics, a real-life superhero was walking the streets of Nazi-occupied Poland.
05:28Irena Sendler smuggled around 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto, saving them from death.
05:33My name is Irena. Can you tell me yours?
05:37As an infectious disease nurse, she went door-to-door, begging families to let her get their children out.
05:42The Gestapo caught her and brutally tortured her.
05:45She endured all the pain they could throw at her, never giving up a single name.
05:49Sentenced to execution, she was miraculously saved when the resistance bribed a guard.
05:53Her efforts might have been lost to history if it wasn't for the efforts of three teens in Kansas to bring her story to light 60 years later.
05:59And let us reflect on those Polish women who took the Jewish children in and brought them up as their own.
06:07Ernest Shackleton
06:08He'd make the right decision in order to survive, and through very practical and bold behavior, he succeeded.
06:17When most explorers faced disaster, they perished.
06:19When Ernest Shackleton faced it, he became a legend.
06:22In 1914, his ship, the aptly named Endurance, became trapped in Antarctic ice.
06:27He and his crew were left stranded in one of the harshest environments on Earth.
06:30Shackleton was the right man at the right time.
06:32His earlier expeditions saw him battling starvation, frostbite, and near-fatal illness.
06:37With no rescue in sight, Shackleton led his men on an 800-mile journey in lifeboats.
06:42Their three small lifeboats would carry all 28 men on a journey that would last no one knew how long.
06:48They endured frigid, storm-ridden seas before reaching help.
06:51Against impossible odds, every single crew member survived.
06:55Even after surviving the Antarctic, Shackleton couldn't stay away.
06:59His final journey to the icy continent ended with a fatal heart attack.
07:03Ernest Shackleton, the boss, has come to take them home.
07:07Harriet Tubman
07:08In 1849, she escaped from this place.
07:12Right here.
07:12Right here.
07:13A place called Poplar Neck in Caroline County, Maryland.
07:18Most people would have been broken by the life Harriet Tubman endured.
07:21She, however, never gave up, instead becoming one of the most fearless freedom fighters in American history.
07:26Born into slavery, she suffered brutal beating and a traumatic head injury that left her with seizures and visions for the rest of her life.
07:33Tubman didn't just escape.
07:34She risked everything to return, guiding dozens of enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
07:39Tubman decided to focus all her energy on helping enslaved people navigate the dangerous journey to freedom.
07:48When the Civil War broke out, she became a Union spy, scout, and even led an armed raid to free over 700 people.
07:54Even in old age, she fought for women's rights and established a home for the elderly.
07:58Chains, war, and illness couldn't break her.
08:00She was simply unstoppable.
08:02Praying for me when I was sick?
08:04Asking God to keep me well?
08:06I asked God how a sickly little boy could think he owned me.
08:09Hiro Onoda
08:09Most soldiers return home after a war.
08:22Hiro Onoda didn't.
08:23He refused to believe it ever ended.
08:25A Japanese intelligence officer during World War II, Onoda was stationed on Lubang Island in the Philippines.
08:30He took his orders to never surrender literally.
08:33When the war ended in 1945, he dismissed the news as enemy propaganda.
08:36For 29 years, he survived in the jungle, raiding villages and engaging in skirmishes.
08:40He was convinced that Japan was still fighting.
08:42In 1974, his former commanding officer was flown in to formally relieve him of duty.
08:47Only then did Onoda finally lay down his rifle.
08:49His return to the world was both celebrated and controversial.
08:52While his loyalty was remarkable, his long war had cost lives.
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09:25Nadezhda Popova
09:27Modern fighter pilots rely on high-tech planes and powerful weapons.
09:31Nadezhda Popova and her all-female squadron, the Night Witches, fought the Nazis with wooden biplanes and sheer will.
09:37It was the only army in the world where only women fought.
09:43Popova flew over 850 bombing missions, cutting her engine before swooping in silently to drop explosives on German forces.
09:51The risk was astronomical.
09:52She was shot down several times and lost comrades along the way.
09:55Despite these setbacks, she kept flying.
09:57Even after her home was occupied and her family displaced, she refused to quit.
10:00The Nazis hated and feared the Night Witches so much, they gave them their infamous nickname.
10:05Popova, unfazed, simply kept proving them right.
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