Dan Georgakas was a writer, historian, and activist with a long-time interest in social movements. He was a long-time editor of Cineaste film quarterly, co-editor of The Encyclopedia of the American Left, and author of My Detroit, Growing up Greek and American in the Motor City.

Marvin Surkin (1938-2025) received his PhD in political science from New York University and was a specialist in comparative urban politics and social change. He worked at the center of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit.

Manning Marable (1950-2011) was a professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University. Marable authored fifteen books including Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for History.

Austin McCoy is an assistant professor of history at West Virginia University, specializing in African American History, labor history, social movements, and hip-hop culture. He is the author of Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made.