Lifting As They Climbed

Mariame Kaba is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with a vision to end youth incarceration, the author of We Do This ‘Til We Free Us as well as the children’s books Missing Daddy and See You Soon, and the recipient of the Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation.

Essence McDowell is a writer, researcher, and communications strategist who has worked with numerous organizations including the Illinois Humanities Council, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, INCITE!, Black Feminist Future, Chicago Public Library, and the Cook County Historic Archives. She is currently the director of arts and communications at the Social Justice Initiative and community organizing to create a resource hub for a national Black Women's Organizing Coalition.