In 1965, after Alabama state troopers attacked voting rights marchers on what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” Sister Antona Ebo and other nuns from the Franciscan Sisters of Mary traveled to Selma and joined the march to Montgomery when it resumed two weeks later.
Annie White made her daring escape from slavery to freedom aboard the Confederate steamer, The Planter in the early hours of May 13, 1862.
Angie Thomas is the bestselling author of the young adult novels “The Hate U Give,” “On the Come Up” and “Concrete Rose.”
African-American southern ecopoet. Her debut collection, Black Pastoral, won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the 2024 Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and was a finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Leonard Prize and the Library of Virginia Prize in Poetry.
From her early beginnings as a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Amina Claudine Myers has gained acclaim as a skilled composer for voice and instruments, often displaying her gospel influences. Her move to New York City in the 1970s led her to prioritize her compositional work and to take on theatrical production projects.
Former Chief Diversity and Equity Officer, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor
Lucinda Roy is an award-winning novelist, poet and memoirist, and a lifelong advocate for diversity and inclusion.
Andrea Davis Pinkney is the award-winning author of nearly 50 books for young readers, among them “The Red Pencil” and “A Poem for Peter,” as well as several collaborations with her husband, Brian Pinkney, including “Martin Rising: Requiem for a King,” “Sit-In” and “Hand in Hand,” which received the Coretta Scott King Book Award.
Aminatta Forna is the author of the novels “Ancestor Stones,” “The Memory of Love” and “The Hired Man,” as well as the memoir “The Devil That Danced on the Water.” Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages.
Alaya Dawn Johnson is an award-winning author of speculative fiction for young adults and adults.