* Fannie Lou Hamer: Civil rights activist and voting rights advocate.
* Ida B. Wells: Journalist, civil rights activist, and suffragist.
* Charles S. Johnson: Sociologist and educator.
* Ralph Bunche: Diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
* Thurgood Marshall: Civil rights lawyer and the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
* Robert L. Carter: Civil rights lawyer and judge.
* C. Eric Lincoln: Sociologist and historian of religion.
* Johnnetta B. Cole: Anthropologist, educator, and president of Bennett College.
* Michael Eric Dyson: Professor of sociology at Georgetown University and author.