Sherrilyn Ifill served as the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) from 2013 to 2022, where she provided visionary and transformational leadership during one of the most consequential and intense moments in our nation’s history. She began her career as a Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, before joining the staff of the LDF as an Assistant Counsel in 1988, where she litigated voting rights cases for five years. For over 20 years, Ifill taught civil procedure and constitutional law to thousands of law students at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. Her 2007 book, “On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century”, was highly acclaimed, and is credited with laying the foundation for contemporary conversations about lynching and reconciliation. At critical moments during national political and civil rights crises, Ifill’s voice and vision have powerfully influenced our national dialogue. Among many honors, Ifill is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, and was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2021. In 2022, she joined The Ford Foundation organization as a Senior Fellow and received the prestigious Brandeis Medal, named for Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, and the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award.

Poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and activist Allison Russell sings about deliverance and redemption, about the places and people and realizations that helped her survive and claim her freedom. The co-founder of Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah) and Birds of Chicago (with JT Nero) unpacks her youth in searing detail on her Grammy-nominated debut solo album, “Outside Child”, named the #2 Best Album of 2021 by The New York Times.

Originally the breakout choir for Mama Foundation for the Arts’ School of Gospel, Jazz, and R&B Arts, this award-winning choir has flourished under the direction of Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson, serving as both a social impact initiative for young alumni and a commercial choir. They have performed at Lincoln Center, the Grammy Awards, and Saturday Night Live—among other destinations—and accompanied artists including Sting, Arianna Grande, and Madonna. All proceeds from their performances benefit the Mama Foundation’s music training programs, which are provided to the Harlem community tuition-free.