Jane Bolin was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the youngest of four children. Her father was the first African-American to graduate from Williams College in Massachusetts. Her mother was a white woman from England. Her mother died when she was eight years old. After high school, she was one of only two black students at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She graduated in 1928 in the top 20 in her class. Soon after, Bolin was one of three women accepted into Yale Law School. In addition, she was the only African-American in the program.

In 1931, she became the first black woman to earn a law degree from Yale. The next year, she became the first black woman ever to pass the New York Bar. She went into practice with her father in Poughkeepsie. In 1936, she ran unsuccessfully for the New York Assembly as a Republican. Afterward, she join the New York City Legal Department.

In 1939, Fiorello La Guardia appointed Bolin as judge of the Domestic Relations Court. With this appointment, she became the first African-American female judge in American history. She served on the bench for 40 years until she was forced to retire, by law, at the age of 70 years. While on the court, she was known as a judge who was "colorblind." She refused to accept racial segregation of child placement organizations or treatment facilities. She also refused to assign probation officers based on race.

Bolin served on the local and national branches of the NAACP and the Urban League. She served on the Child Welfare League of America and the Neighborhood Children's Center. She volunteered her time to tutor children in the New York City public school system. Her fairness as a judge and her service to the community as a whole made her a great American.

Leonidas Berry was born in Woodsdale, North Carolina in 1902. He grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. He attended Wilberforce University and graduated in 1924. He then received a second B.S. degree from the University of Chicago and his M.D. from Rush Medical College in 1929. In 1933, he received his M.S. in pathology from the University of Illinois. He then became the first black physician appointed to the medical attending staffs at both the Cook County Hospital and Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.

Dr. Berry was the first American doctor to use the fiber-optic gastro-camera to view inside the digestive tract. He became the co-creator of the Eder-Berry Gastroscope, an instrument used to take tissue samples from the stomach for direct examination. His work in this field revolutionized the medical field. He also devoted much of his time to working in both Illinois and Alabama for people who had never seen a doctor. He authored hundreds of medical articles and contributed to 12 books. Dr. Berry served as the president of the National Medical Association from 1965 to 1966. Also in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the National Advisory Council for the Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke Program.

Berry retired from Cook County Hospital in 1975 after training nearly 500 postgraduate residents. He received the First Annual Clinical Achievement Award from the American College of Gastroenterology in 1988. He was awarded the Freedom Award for Public Service from the Chicago Chapter of the NAACP. He lectured during much of his retirement and championed efforts to support hospitals in black communities. His contributions to medicine and health have helped to save countless lives and improve treatments for patients throughout the world. His efforts in medicine have made him a great American.