Maulana Karenga (born Ronald McKinley Everett on July 14, 1941) is an African American professor of Africana Studies, activist and author, best known as the creator of the pan-African and African American holiday of Kwanzaa. Karenga was a major figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s and co-founded with Hakim Jamal the black nationalist and social change organization US which means "Us Black people". US continues to be active in local, national and international issues of social justice and social change, working within the framework of the philosophy Kawaida developed by Karenga.

Ron Everett was born on a farm in Parsonsburg, Maryland, the fourteenth child and seventh son. He moved to California in the late 1950s to attend UCLA, but attended Los Angeles City College (LACC) to establish residence. There, he became the first African-American president of the student body. After graduation from LACC, he went to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he received his B.A. and M.A. in political science with a specialization in African studies. (Maulana Karenga, Los Angeles: UCLA Center for African American Studies, Oral History Program, 2002)

Malcolm X ( /ˈmælkəm ˈɛks/; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Arabic: الحاجّ مالك الشباز‎), was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

Malcolm X's father died—killed by white supremacists, it was rumored—when he was young, and at least one of his uncles was lynched. When he was thirteen, his mother was placed in a mental hospital, and he was placed in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for breaking and entering.

In prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and after his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years Malcolm X was the public face of the controversial group, but disillusionment with Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad led him to leave the Nation in March 1964. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, he returned to the United States, where he founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In February 1965, less than a year after leaving the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by three members of the group.

Elaine Brown (born March 2, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American prison activist, writer, singer, and former Black Panther leader who is based in Oakland, California. She is a former chairperson of the Black Panther Party. Brown briefly ran for the Green Party presidential nomination in 2008. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and is a founder of Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice.

On December 28, 2007, Elaine Brown renounced her affiliation with the Green Party and her bid for Presidency.

Brown grew up in the ghetto of North Philadelphia, with a single, working mother and an absent father. Despite desperate poverty, Brown’s mother worked to provide for Elaine’s private schooling, music lessons, and nice clothing. As a young woman, Elaine had few African-American friends but spent most of her time with her white friends. After graduating from Philadelphia High School for Girls, she studied at Temple University for less than a semester. After withdrawing from Temple Brown moved to Los Angeles, California to try being a professional songwriter.