1. Water Lily Rainer Maria Rilke
My whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me, for it is infinite.
The ripple of water, the shade of the sky
are mine; it is still the same, my life.
No desire opens me: I am full,
I never close myself with refusal-
in the rhythm of my daily soul
I do not desire-I am moved;
by being moved I exert my empire,
making the dreams of night real:
into my body at the bottom of the water
I attract the beyonds of mirrors...
Translated by A. Poulin

2. “The Souls of Black Folk”
Those who have made a ripple in the water…

3. Alice Walker Alexa Canady
First black woman neurosurgeon in the United States
“It’s your life; it’s your vision; it’s yours to make happen.”
Alice Walker
Creative writer of short stories, novels, essays, poetry, and journals
“Every soul is to be cherished, every flower to bloom.”

4. The Delany Sisters: Sadie and Bessie
Sadie was the first black teacher of domestic science in the New York City Schools
Bessie was the second black woman licensed in New York to practice dentistry.
“If you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain.”
Marian Wright Edelman
Civil Rights Lawyer
Founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF),
“Service is the very purpose of life. It is the rent we pay for living on this planet.”

5. Mae C. Jemison Fannie Lou Hamer
First outer space experience was in the space capsule, Endeavor, in 1922.
“I always test the limits of my abilities.”
Fannie Lou Hamer
Civil Rights Organizer
Co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).
“I question America.”

6. Charles Henry Turner Frederick Douglass
Most influential figure in African American History
One of many leaders of the abolitionist movement
Served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War
Charles Henry Turner
Zoologist and Entomologist
Credited for being the first researcher to prove that insects can hear and can also distinguish pitch

7. George Washington Carver, Jr.
W.E.B. DuBois
The first African-American to receive a PhD from Harvard in 1895
Founded the Niagara Movement, which became the NAACP
“Peace will be my applause.”
George Washington Carver, Jr.
Former Slave, Educator, Scientist
His research developed 325 products from peanuts, 108
applications for sweet potatoes, and 75 products from pecans.

8. Bob Marley Paul Laurence Dunbar
He brought the world together with his reggae music
“One Love, One heart, lets get together and feel alright..”
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet.
In 1892, at the age of twenty, he published his first book of poetry, Oak and Ivy.