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Born in 1849 to a prosperous Jewish-Portuguese family in New York City, Emma Lazarus began writing as a teenager. In 1886, her father published her first book of poems, entitled Poems and Translations. Lazarus was a contemporary of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who admired her writing and helped make Lazarus part of an elite circle of American writers. Lazarus was an advocate for Jewish immigrants escaping persecution in Europe and Russia, and many of her poems reflect that concern. Lazarus died of Hodgkin’s disease at age 38. Her poem "The New Colossus," which in 1904 was etched on the base of the Statue of Liberty, became one of the most often quoted poems in the English Language.

With her father in the Air Force, Angela Medearis and her family moved often during her childhood. She is the author of over 80 award-winning children’s books, including, Seven Spools of Thread, Picking Peas for a Penny, and Daisy and the Doll. In addition, Medearis’ works include several books about African American arts and Texas history. She also founded a nonprofit organization called Book Boosters, Inc., which develops tutoring programs for elementary children needing a “boost” in their self-esteem and help with reading. In addition to her published novels, Medearis has also written four cookbooks and developed educational videos and television programs for children.

Born in Massachusetts in 1915 to the children of Jewish immigrants, Milton Meltzer learned to read early in life. He does not recall how he learned to read, but does remember days spent at the library reading such stories as The Arabian Nights and Gulliver’s Travels. A full scholarship paid Meltzer's way through Columbia University. After serving in the Army Air Force during World War II, Meltzer returned to the United States to work as a publicist and then a freelance writer and editor In 1946, he published his first book, a pictorial history of Black Americans. Today, he has written more than seventy books, mostly nonfiction books for young adults. Many of his books have either won awards or been nominated for them, and several have been named Best Children’s Book of the Year.

An author and poet of Mexican-American descent, Pat Mora has written more than 25 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for children and adults. Her grandparents immigrated to the United States during the Mexican Revolution. They spoke only Spanish. Their daughter Estela, who was Pat's mother, grew up translating English into Spanish for her parents. Estela raised her daughter to be bilingual. Thus, many of Mora's books contain both English and Spanish text.

Raymond Patterson was an African American poet, writer, and professor from Harlem, New York. Patterson received his BA from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and his Masters degree in English from New York University He has since become a prolific poet, whose work is highly anthologized. He is the author of 26 Ways of Looking at a Black Man and Other Poems as well as Elemental Blues, a book-length poem on the life of the enslaved African poet Phyllis Wheatley. His work often explored the roles of African Americans in the arts and society With his wife, Patterson created Black Poets Reading, a nonprofit speakers’ bureau. In 1968 he joined the faculty of New York City College, where he founded the Langston Hughes Festival, which he directed from 1973 to 1993. Patterson died in 2001 at the age of 71.

Born Theodore Roosevelt Augustus Major Poston, Ted Poston grew up working on his father’s small newspaper in Hopkinsville, Kentucky After college he decided to make journalism his career. He went to New York City, where he landed a job as city hall reporter for the New York Post. Later, Poston won many journalistic awards for his work covering race relations and the civil rights movement. He also published about twenty short stories, including "The Revolt of the Evil Fairies," one of many stories based on his life at Booker T. Washington Colored Grammar School in Hopkinsville.

Poet, publisher, and founder of the Broadside Press, Dudley Randall was born in Washington, D.C., in 1914. His family moved to Detroit shortly thereafter. His first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press when he was just thirteen years old. Randall worked at a post office while earning degrees in English and library science. For the next five years Randall was a librarian at Morgan State and Lincoln Universities, after which he returned to Detroit to a position at the Wayne County Federated Library System. In 1969 he became the librarian and poet in residence at the University of Detroit until his retirement in 1974. Randall’s well-known poem Ballad of Birmingham was written in response to the 1963 church bombing where four young black girls were killed. This became the first project of Randall’s Broadside Press, which printed this poem to protect its rights. The first collection of poetry printed by Broadside was Poem Counterpoem, in which ten poems were thematically matched on facing pages. Broadside Press was instrumental in establishing the reputations of many African American poets and writers,

Bob Reiser is a storyteller, teacher, and author of books for children and adults. He accompanies himself on the flute and drum, which brings warmth to his stories. In addition, he teaches children to tell stories of their own. Reiser is the author of six books for adults and children and has worked with folk music icon Pete Seeger and jazz drummer Panama Francis. His book Everybody Says Freedom was cowritten with Seeger.

Born to parents who loved and taught music, Pete Seeger fell in love with the banjo and folk music at an early age. Seeger left Harvard University in the middle of his sophomore year, setting out to absorb American folk music from its source in communities across the country. He formed his first folk group, The Almanac Singers, with Woody Guthrie and other musicians in 1940. They traveled throughout the U.S. and Mexico as singer-activists, bolstering labor movements and other social causes. In 1942 Seeger joined the U.S. Army and continued playing music, often performing for his fellow soldiers. In 1945, after being discharged from the Army as a corporal. Seeger founded People’s Songs, Inc., a musicians’ union helping bind the labor movement to folk music in an effort to advance both. In 1948 he co-founded the famous Weavers, a folk-singing quartet that recorded many hit songs. Many of Seeger’s recordings supported civil rights and the environment while protesting war.