Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright, and teacher, and the author of four books of poems for adults, including American Sublime, one of three finalists for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize and an ALA Notable Book of the Year. She is a professor of African American literature and culture at Yale University. Dr. Alexander lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

Marilyn Nelson is a past poet laureate of the state of Connecticut and a three-time National Book Award finalist. She is the author of two award-winning books for young people, Carver: A Life in Poems and Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem. She lives in East Haddam, Connecticut.

Floyd Cooper (1956–2021) illustrated over 110 books for children, including Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, for which he was awarded a Caldecott Honor, the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, and a Sibert Honor. He was also the recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award for The Blacker the Berry; three Coretta Scott King Honors for I Have Heard of a Land, Meet Danitra Brown, and Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea; 10 ALA Notables; and an NAACP Image Award, among other honors. Visit floydcooper.com.