Lean'tin L. Bracks is professor of English and African American literature at Fisk University in Nashville Tennessee. She is the author of Writings on Black Women of the Diaspora: History Language and Identity (1997) and African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage and Excellence (2013). Jessie Carney Smith is dean of the library and William and Camille Cosby Professor in the Humanities at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the author or editor of several notable books including Black Firsts: 4000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events (3rd ed., 2013) and The Handy African American History Answer Book (2014).