The IMPORTANCE OF changemakers
We celebrate changemakers in sectors such as health, sustainability, community and empathy. These industries are undergoing enormous change as they navigate digital transformation, consumer shifts, climate change and policy. Changemakers take on the duty of helping to guide organizations, industries and culture through this transformation — and to come out on the other side with something positive and something even better — something that works for all.
We recognize and honor the unique contributions of Black Changemakers — who are often under-recognized for their significant innovations in advancing industries and transforming lives. These leaders navigate change and the inequities of structural racism as they work to develop new solutions, cultivate vital new perspectives, address systemic inequities — and through their work, advance a positive future for all.
HEALTH
Healthcare is undergoing significant changes as it works to improve health outcomes, while reducing unnecessary costs across the system. Changemakers are working to advance our knowledge in science, develop more effective treatment solutions, leverage population health data and address systemic inequities in the delivery of care that create additional burdens for underserved, and specifically BIPOC, communities.
Charles Richard Drew, MD
Founder of blood banks (born 1904 — died 1950)
Known as the “father of blood banking,” Charles Richard Drew, MD, pioneered blood preservation techniques that led to thousands of lifesaving blood donations. Drew’s doctoral research explored best practices for banking and transfusions, and its insights helped him establish the first large-scale blood banks.
Dr. Thomas LaVeist
One of the founding leaders of the Black Men’s Health Project
Dr. LaVeist’s dissertation on racial disparities was awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Award by the American Sociological Association. He is the recipient of the “Innovation Award” from the National Institutes of Health, and the “Knowledge Award” from the DHHS, Office of Minority Health. In 2013 he was elected to National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Rachel Hardeman
Scholar of Race, Gender & Health
Dr. Rachel R. Hardeman is a reproductive health equity researcher whose program of research applies the tools of population health science and health services research to elucidate a critical and complex determinant of health inequity—racism.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett
Scientific Lead of the Coronavirus Team at the National Institute of Health’s Vaccine Research Center.
Dr. Corbett’s research on spike proteins and mRNA encoding as a potential means of triggering an immune response led to a partnership with Moderna, ultimately leading to the development of one of the early COVID-19 vaccines.
Agriculture & Sustainability
Climate change has asked us to rethink our approach to agriculture and sustainability, opting instead for regenerative solutions, renewable energies and approaches that can heal the soil and communities. Changemakers are working to advance our knowledge in science, to update our growing practices to be more sustainable, and to address the systemic inequities of food access, food justice, and connection with the land.
George Washington Carver
Agricultural scientist, educator, inventor
George Washington Carver’s innovations in the field of crop rotation are considered breakthroughs in resource conservation, by preserving soil and making farms more productive.
PANDORA THOMAS
Caregiver, teacher, farmer, designer and speaker
Pandora's work emphasizes the benefits of applying ecological principles to social design. She is currently a designer, teacher, and facilitator at founder of EARTHseed Permaculture Center and Farm, the first all Black owned and run farm in Sonoma County.
RON FINLEY
Fashion designer, urban gardener, founder of the Ron Finley Project
Ron Finley is a rebel with a green thumb. In 2010 Ron set out to fix a problem in his South Central neighborhood parkways; those often neglected dirt patches next to our streets. He planted some vegetables there. Soon after he was cited for gardening without a permit by the apparent owners of those dirt patches: the City of Los Angeles.
Leah Penniman
Author, farmer, co-founder Soul Fire Farm
Soul Fire Farm grows food as an act of solidarity with those oppressed by food apartheid while maintaining respect for their ancestors, history, and the environment. Leah has also authored Farming While Black, a love song for the earth and her peoples.
Community
Communities are the places we live, learn, work, engage in faith and gather together. We often describe our communities as the location, physical infrastructure or diverse people and values that bring us together. Changemakers in community believe that strong communities lead to better lives and are working to deepen our connections in the places we gather, the schools where we learn, and in the values we embody. They are also addressing the systemic inequities in access to health, education, safety and food access, specifically effecting BIPOC communities.
Mary McLeod Bethune
American educator, stateswoman, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune advocated for a civil rights agenda inclusive of a broad range of religious and worldview traditions. “Any idea that keeps anybody out is too small for this age—open your heart and let everybody in,” she advised her students.
Clarence Wigington
The nation’s first African American municipal architect
Clarence Wigington served as lead architect in over ninety St. Paul city projects. His legacy in brick and stone has lasted well into the twenty-first century. He designed both the enduring (schools, fire stations, park buildings) and the ephemeral (five Winter Carnival ice palaces).
Justice Alan Page
Co-founder, Page Education Foundation, retired jurist, former pro football player
The Page Education Foundation has awarded grants to more than 7,500 students, who in turn have given more than 475,000 hours of their own time to young children. Upon his retirement from the bench, Page continues the foundation's work, and finding other ways to encourage students of color to be successful in school, especially by developing critical thinking skills.
LaTasha Powell
Founder, Appetite for Change
Latasha Powell is founder and president of Appetite For Change, a community organization whose mission is to use food as a tool to build health, wealth, and social change in North Minneapolis. The organization brings people together to learn, cook, eat, and grow food, creating change that lasts.
Empathy
The field of empathy is full of organizations who are bringing about positive change by connecting us more deeply to one another through our common experiences and shared values. Changemakers in empathy are working to deepen our understanding of one another by providing a lens to also engage our differences in meaningful ways. With true connection, we can work together to address systemic inequities, engage in service, pursue justice and begin healing.
Maya Angelou
Author, activist, poet
Considered to be one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century, Maya Angelou had a diverse career spanning five decades — first as a singer and dancer, then as a journalist and civil-rights activist, and later as a memoirist, poet and screenwriter. Her influential writings center around community, vulnerability and Black experiences.
IBRAM X. KENDI
Historian, author, antiracist scholar
Ibram X. Kendi is one of America’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the Founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. He is also the 2020-2021 Frances B. Cashin Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for the Advanced Study at Harvard University. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Amanda Gorman
Poet, board member 826 National
Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.
Sarah Bellamy
Artistic Director, Penumbra Center for Racial Healing
Sarah Bellamy is Artistic Director at Penumbra. Penumbra creates professional productions that are artistically excellent, thought provoking, and relevant and illuminate the human condition through the prism of the African American experience. Sarah has designed several programs that engage patrons in critical thinking, dialogue, and action around issues of race and social justice.