Julia May Carson overcame poverty and racism to serve nearly two decades in state and local government—including 17 years in the Indiana state legislature—before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, the first African American and first woman to represent Indianapolis in Congress.
A longtime community activist, Barbara-Rose Collins was elected to Congress in 1990 on a platform to bring federal dollars and aid to her underserved neighborhood in downtown Detroit. In the House, Collins, a single mother, focused on her lifelong effort to ensure that Black families and Black communities had the resources and opportunities they needed to thrive.
American geneticist
Laux is the author of three collections of poetry from BOA Editions, Awake (1990), What We Carry (1994), finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Smoke (2000). She is also co-author, with Kim Addonizio, of The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (W.W. Norton, 1997).
One of the Little Rock Nine children who de-segregated their Arkansas schools, she later served in Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity in the Department of the Interior.
1300s and 1400s Italian-born French writer, philosopher, composer and feminist
Hong Vo has made a significant contribution for Vietnamese women and disadvantaged individuals and groups in Victoria, Australia, providing resources and support.
US Air Force veteran
Native American rights activist and environmentalist
Author of more than a dozen poetry collections, including “Black Feeling, Black Talk,” “Blues: For All the Changes” and “Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose”