James Van Der Zee was born in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1886. As early as the age of six, Van Der Zee loved photography. His parents had been servants for former President Ulysses S. Grant. By the time he was 20 years old, he and his father moved to Harlem, New York City. He worked as a waiter and elevator operator, but never forgot his love for photography.

In 1916, Van Der Zee moved to Newark, New Jersey to begin working as a darkroom assistant at a portrait studio. After learning the trade for one year, he moved back to Harlem and set up his own studio. His business boomed during World War I. He took normal portraits at his studio, but expanded to photograph clubs, church groups, sports teams, and family portraits. He took photographs of famous African-Americans such as Marcus Garvey, Jack Johnson, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Mamie Smith. He used elaborate backdrops to help make his photographs glamorous and exciting.

Van Der Zee was "discovered" in 1968 at the age of 82 when a photo researcher named Reginald McGhee found his collection of 75,000 pictures chronicling the Harlem Renaissance over six decades. His photographs were featured at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in an exhibit called "Harlem On My Mind.” His photographs received national recognition and Van Der Zee became a celebrity. Famous people such as Lou Rawls, Bill Cosby and Muhammad Ali made it a point to have a sitting for a Van Der Zee portrait.

Van Der Zee lived to be 96 years old. His work today is one of the most complete visual records of the Harlem Renaissance in existence. His eyes behind the camera made him a great American.

Daisy was born in Huttig, Arkansas in 1914. At a young age, her mother was sexually assaulted and murdered by three white men and her father left her. She married Lucious C. Bates, a journalist and insurance agent, in the early 1940's. After their marriage, they moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.

The couple operated a weekly newspaper called the Arkansas State Press. The paper became a voice for civil rights even before the Civil Rights Movement had begun. In 1952, while editing the newspaper, Daisy was elected president of the Arkansas Conference of Branches, the umbrella organization of the state NAACP.

In wake of the landmark Supreme Court ruling "Brown v Board of Education," the Arkansas State Press began publicizing segregation violations by the state of Arkansas as well as its Board of Education. Daisy Bates help advise and direct nine students, known today as the "Little Rock Nine," to enroll into the all-white Little Rock Central High School. The governor of Arkansas called out the National Guard to stop the students from entering the school. Mobs of citizens met at the high school to threaten and harasses the students, activists and northern journalists who were covering the story. President Eisenhower took control of the Arkansas National Guard and sent the 101st Airborne Division to enforce desegregation.

On August 28, 1963, Bates became the only woman invited to speak at the Lincoln Memorial before the speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. Afterward, she moved to Mitchellville, Arkansas, an all-black community, to become the executive director of the community's Economic Opportunity Agency. She worked there for the next eleven years.

Daisy Lee Bates was an early voice for civil rights in the South. She helped force desegregation in Arkansas schools through her will and her words. She is recognized today as a champion for civil rights and opportunities for all Americans. She was truly a great American.