Wilson, August: - August Wilson (1945-2005) is the most influential and successful African American playwright. A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, his plays have been produced all over the world.

Freedman, Samuel G.: -

Samuel G. Freedman is an author, columnist, and professor at Columbia University. His books include: Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students and Their High School (finalist for the 1990 National Book Award); The Inheritance: How Three Families and America Moved from Roosevelt to Reagan and Beyond (finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize); Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church; Letters To A Young Journalist; and Dying Words: The AIDS Reporting of Jeff Schmalz and How it Transformed The New York Times, co-written with Kerry Donahue.

Freedman has been published in such publications as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, and The Root.