June Jordan (1936−2002) was a poet, activist, journalist, essayist, teacher, and the author of more than twenty-five works of poetry, fiction, essays, and children's books. Active in the civil rights, feminist, antiwar, and gay and lesbian rights movements, she was a professor of African American studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she founded the influential poetry program Poetry for the People. Among her honors were a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a National Book Award nomination, and a congressional citation for her outstanding contributions to literature, the progressive movement, and the civil rights movement.

aja monet (foreword) is a spoken word poet, musician, and activist. Her debut poetry collection, My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and her debut poetry album, When the Poems Do What They Do, was nominated for a Grammy Award. monet is the youngest winner of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and the recipient of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award for Poetry, the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award, The Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award, the EBONY Power 100 Artist In Residence Award, and the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Vanguard Award.

Adrienne Rich (1929-2012; afterword) was a poet, essayist, radical feminist, public intellectual, and leader in the fight for sexual equality. She wrote two dozen volumes of poetry, including the National Book Award-winning Diving into the Wreck.