Benny Golson (1929–2024), jazz saxophonist and composer

Benny Golson was a tenor saxophonist and composer whose work helped define the sound of hard bop and whose compositions have since become standards in the world of jazz.

Dorie Ladner (1942–2024), Freedom Riders civil rights activist 

Dorie Ladner was a civil rights activist whose efforts included being arrested for attempting to have lunch at a segregated Woolworth lunch counter and jailed for picketing in the 1962 Jackson, Mississippi boycotts.

Loretta Whitfield (1941–2020), creator of Baby Whitney doll

Loretta Whitfield was an entrepreneur and education counselor who created Baby Whitney, a realistic Black baby doll.

Chadwick Boseman (1976–2020), star of Black Panther

Chadwick Boseman, the actor who starred as T'Challa in "Black Panther," Jackie Robinson in "42," and Thurgood Marshall in "Marshall," died at his home in Los Angeles, his family .

Deidre Davis Butler (1955–2020), disability rights advocate

Deidre Davis Butlerwas a champion for disability rights and a lawyer who helped draft the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Damon Keith (1922–2019), federal judge promoted equality

Damon Keith was a federal judge with a long and prolific career, serving on the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Sixth Circuit for more than 40 years. Presiding over courts in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, Keith never retired, serving until his death at 96. His most notable decision was in a 1971 case regarding the Nixon Administration. Nixon's Justice Department was wiretapping people suspected of conspiring to bomb a CIA office, and they were doing it without court orders. Keith ordered them to cease wiretapping without warrants. The Justice Department appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld Keith's decision 8-0. Keith was also known for a 1971 order to desegregate schools in Pontiac, Michigan via bussing, as well as for upholding the affirmative action policy in the Detroit Police Department.

Zora Neale Hurston: Genius of the South

In the summer of 1973, a young writer made a pilgrimage south to Fort Pierce, Florida, to visit the final resting place of an artist whose novels, plays and essays had inspired so much of her own writing. She arrived at the Garden of Heavenly Rest to find the segregated cemetery abandoned, weed-choked and overgrown with brambles, and it took her some time to locate the unmarked grave she sought. But find it she did, and before leaving she placed the stone she and a fellow scholar had paid for with their own money. The marker was modest, but its message was not.