David Levering Lewis is the Martin Luther King Jr., chair in the history at Rutgers University. He has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Woodrow Wilson International Center, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the National Humanities Center, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Educated at Fisk and Columbia Universities and the London School of Economics and Political Science, Professor Lewis is the author of several acclaimed books, including King: A Biography, When Harlem Was in Vogue, and The Race to Fashoda. He and his wife live in Manhattan.

Courtney B. Vance is an award-winning actor who is a powerful presence from the stage to the screen. From his stunning portrayal of Johnnie Cochran in FX’s The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, to the beloved and pivotal Uncle George in HBO’s critically acclaimed drama horror series Lovecraft Country, to his star turn in NatGeo’s Genius: Aretha as Rev. C.L. Franklin, he has earned two Emmys, a Tony, a Critics Choice Award, a Black Reel TV Award, and multiple NAACP Image Awards, as well as SAG, Golden Globe, and Hollywood Critics Association nominations. He is the recipient of the Bounce Trumpet Awards Excellence in Entertainment Honor, the ABFF Honors Award for Excellence in the Arts, and he earned a Grammy nomination for his narration of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s book, Accessory to War.