Beah E. Richards (1920-2000) was born Beulah Elizabeth Richardson in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where the number-one rule in her parents' home was, "The bottom is overcrowded so strive for the top!" She came to New York in 1950. Her first significant stage role was in 1955, playing an elderly woman in the off-Broadway play Take a Giant Step. She developed a career as a prolific actress, playwright, and published poet, receiving a Tony nomination for her role in James Baldwin's The Amen Corner, and garnering an Oscar nomination for her part as Mrs. Prentice in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. In 1988 she won an Emmy for her role on Frank's Place, and in 2000 she won an Emmy award for her role on The Practice. LisaGay Hamilton accepted the award on behalf of Ms. Richards, and delivered the Emmy to Beah in Mississippi. Ms. Richards died two weeks later.

R. Gregory Christie received a Caldecott Honor for his illustrations in Freedom in Congo Square, written by Carole Boston Weatherford. He is a three-time recipient of The New York Times’s 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year Award, a six-time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Honor Award in Illustration, and a winner of the Boston Globe­–Horn Book Award, the NAACP’s Image Award, and the Once Upon a World Children’s Book Award from the Museum of Tolerance. Visit Mr. Christie’s website at Gas-Art.com.