Bishop Barbara Lewis King, affectionately called Dr. Barbara, is the Founder/Minister of the Hillside Chapel and Truth Center, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2001, she became the first female to be enstooled as a Chief at Assin Nsuta, Ghana, West Africa.
Dr. Christian-Christensen was the first woman delegate from the United States Virgin Islands and the first woman to represent an offshore Territory, as well as the first woman physician in the U.S. Congress.
Joining the NSA during WWII, she fought diligently, though quietly, for better opportunities for talented but underutilized employees.
The first African American woman in the NSA to give instruction in signals analysis and the first African American woman assigned as an Agency recruiter.
Chief of the Learning Center at the NSA, where she was instrumental in instituting a number of programs, including the implementation of the sign language course.
Massachusetts’ first woman Commissioner of Public Health, as well as its youngest, where she established the US’s first Violence Prevention Office at a state health department.
The first woman and first African-American in multiple Navy positions, including the first female Command Master Chief of an aircraft carrier and the first female Command Master Chief for recruit training.
Jesmyn Ward is the acclaimed author of the novels “Where the Line Bleeds,” “Salvage the Bones,” winner of the 2011 National Book Award, and “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” winner of the 2017 National Book Award. Her nonfiction work includes the memoir “Men We Reaped,” a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 2020 work “Navigate Your Stars.”
Social psychologist whose research has illuminated how identities – particularly racial identities – are formed and shaped through interactions with others.
Founder and President of the Children’s Defense Fund and an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life.