Judge Gary M. Jackson was born on November 10, 1945 in Denver, Colorado to Nancelia Scott-Jackson and Floyd Jackson, Jr. After attending the University of Redlands in Redlands, California, Jackson received his B.A. degree in political science from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) in 1967 and his J.D. degree in 1970 from the University of Colorado Law School.

Between 1970 and 1974, Jackson worked as a deputy in the County Court Division and Chief Trial Deputy in the Juvenile and Felony divisions of the Denver District Attorney’s Office. In 1974, he served as the assistant attorney in the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. Then, in 1976, Jackson was hired as a partner at the law firm of DiManna Eklund Ciano & Jackson before moving to DiManna & Jackson, LLP in 1981. In 2013, Jackson was appointed County Court Judge for Denver County Court, where he worked until 2020. After retiring, Jackson joined Action Jackson Realty at Compass as the vice president of marketing.

Throughout his career, Jackson has received numerous awards and honors including the Wiley Branton Award from the National Bar Association in 2001, the King Trimble Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sam Cary Bar Association (SCBA) in 2006, the George Norlin Award from CU Boulder in 2008, the Colorado Bar Association’s Award of Merit in 2012, the Norman Early Lifetime Award from the National Black Prosecutors Association, the Judicial Excellence Award for County Court Judge of the Year from the Colorado Judicial Institute, the Monte Pascoe Civic Leadership Award from the City of Denver in 2018, the Trial Judge of the Year Award from Barrister’s Magazine in 2019, the Anthony Greco Judge of the Year Award from the Colorado Judicial Conference, the Judicial Excellence Award from the Denver Bar Association, the Hon. Wiley Daniel Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Legal Inclusiveness in 2020, and the Metropolitan State College, Rachel B. Noel’s Distinguished Visiting Professorship Hope for the Future Award in 2021. Jackson was honored by the University of Colorado Law School with the Solo/Small Firm Practitioner Award in 1994, the Honorary Order of the Coif in 2003, the William Lee Knous Award in 2010, and the Sonny Flowers Award in 2021. He was inducted into the George Washington High School Inaugural Hall of Fame in 2016, the National Bar Association’s Fred Gray Hall of Fame in 2021 and the Colorado Black Hall of Fame in 2022.

Jackson served as a founding member and president of the SCBA, president of the American Board of Trial Advocates, vice president of the Colorado Bar Association and Denver Bar Association, chair of Northeast Denver Youth Services and the Delta Eta Boule Foundation, board member of the Lowry Redevelopment Authority, and co-chair of the Colorado Bar Association/Colorado Judicial Institute Coalition on Judicial Diversity. He is also a member of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the Denver Athletic Club.

Jackson has two children: Michael and Tara. He and his wife, Regina, reside in Denver, Colorado.

The Honorable Gary M. Jackson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 8, 2025.

Mayor Kasim Reed was born on June 10, 1969 in Plainfield, New Jersey to Sylvia and Junius Reed. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Howard University in Washington D.C. in 1991 and his J.D. degree from Howard University School of Law in 1995.

Reed interned for Congressman Joseph Patrick Kennedy II. After law school, he joined Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP in Atlanta, Georgia before becoming partner at Holland & Knight LLP. In 1998, Reed was elected Georgia State Representative for the 52nd House District. He also served as campaign manager for Shirley Franklin in 2001 and was part of her transition team after she was elected Mayor of Atlanta in 2002. That same year, Reed was elected Georgia State Senator for the 35th Senate District. In 2009, Reed resigned from his Georgia Senate position to run for Mayor of Atlanta. He was elected to two terms beginning in 2010 and ending in 2018. Reed then joined Squire Patton Boggs in Atlanta, Georgia before being hired by McDermott Will & Emery LLC, also in Atlanta.

Reed has received numerous awards and honors including recognition as Georgia Trend magazine’s "40 under 40 Rising Stars" in 2001, one of "10 Outstanding Atlantans" by Outstanding Atlanta, one of the "100 Most Influential African-Americans Under 45" by The Root, and one of Governing magazine’s "Public Officials of the Year" in 2011. He was also the recipient of the Oglethorpe Sword Award from the British Consulate and the Louis E. Martin Great American Award from the Joint Center in 2012, a Local Hero Award from GLAAD and a Courage Award from the Islamic Speakers Bureau in 2016, a President's Medal of Achievement from Howard University in 2019, and an Ambassador of Goodwill Award from the Harlem Globetrotters in 2021. Reed also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Oglethorpe University and Howard University in 2011.

Reed was a member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 1998, the Leadership Georgia Class of 2000, and the Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowship Class of 2007. He served on the board of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. He was also named trustee of Howard University in 2002.

Reed resides in Atlanta, Georgia. He has one daughter named Maria.

The Honorable Kasim Reed was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 16, 2025.

Diversity specialist Dwinita Mosby Tyler was born on November 12, 1962 in Atlanta, Georgia to Barbara Yvonne Hancock Mosby and John Mosby, Jr. She earned her B.S. degree in education from The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1985. She went on to earn her M.A. degree in management from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1999. She also earned her Ph.D. degree in organizational leadership from the University of Colorado in 2008.

Tyler began her career as a corporate trainer with AT&T in 1985, where she worked for nearly ten years. She joined Kaiser Permanente in Colorado in 1995 and worked as an operations manager and director of operations in 1998. In 2004, Tyler was hired by Statline, an organ procurement organization, and she served as the vice president of operations until 2006. That same year, she founded the Kaleidoscope Project, a health initiative dedicated to ending tobacco usage in the African American community. In 2009, Tyler was the first African American female to become the executive director of the Office of Human Resources with the City and County of Denver. Five years later, she joined the Children’s Hospital Colorado, and she served as the senior vice president of human resources and chief inclusion officer. In 2017, Tyler was the founder and chief catalyst of The Equity Project, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in diversity and inclusion for small businesses in Denver, Colorado.

From 2009 to 2016, Tyler served on the board of One Colorado Education Fund. She was the commissioner of the Denver Office of Strategic Partnerships and the Colorado Health Equity Commission in 2012 and 2013, respectively. She was also a member of the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Board from 2012 to 2016. That same year, she was a member of the board of trustees of the Denver Foundation. She was also a trustee of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Craig Hospital, and Signal Behavioral Health Network.

Tyler has one daughter named Jasmine. She also two stepchildren with her husband, Reverend Dr. Timothy Tyler. Tyler and her husband reside in Denver, Colorado.

Dwinita Mosby Tyler was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 10, 2025.

Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Johnny Johnson, Jr. was born on March 14, 1946 in Glen Rogers, West Virginia to Johnnie Johnson, Sr. and Virginia “Betty” Johnson. After serving as an airman in the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1967, Johnson received his B.S. degree in zoology and animal biology from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia in 1970. The following year, he received his M.S. degree in developmental biology from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio before receiving his M.D. degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee in 1975 and his M.H.S. degree in health science systems and managed care from the University of Denver in 1999.

After completing medical school, Johnson trained at Homer G. Phillips Hospital before completing his residency at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri in 1979. That same year, he began working for the City and County of Denver, Denver Health, and Park Hill Clinic. In 1981, Dr. Johnson entered private practice at Western OB/GYN Associates in Denver, Colorado. He also worked part-time as a clinical professor for the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Denver, Colorado. Johnson retired from clinical medical practice in 2020, and he became a non-clinical medical women’s health consultant.

Johnson served on the board of Denver Health from 2002 to 2012 and on the board of the Colorado Medical Society from 2020 to 2022. He was president of the Denver Medical Society in 2007 and the Mile High Medical Society, a chapter of the National Medical Association, beginning in 2014. Johnson is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated., Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, and the New Hope Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado.

Throughout his career, Johnson received numerous awards and honors including a Physician of the Year award from Dr. Syl Morgan Gospel Awards and he was named Top Doctor- OB/GYN by the State of Colorado.

Johnson is married to June Johnson, and they reside in Denver, Colorado. They have three children: Kelly, Morgan, and Taylor.

Dr. Johnny Johnson, Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 8, 2025.

Judge Dianne Briscoe was born on November 16, 1949 in St. Louis, Missouri to Ruth Denny and Eugene Briscoe. She received her B.S. degree in sociology from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri in 1971, her M.S. degree in business administration from East Texas State University in Commerce, Texas in 1978, and her J.D. degree from the University of Denver in Colorado in 1983.

Briscoe entered private practice in 1986. From 1988 to 1996, she worked as an attorney in the Colorado Governor’s Job Training Office administering contracts under the Job Training Partnership Act, and overseeing application of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act . Briscoe was an assistant city attorney for the City and County of Denver beginning in 1996, working as an airport attorney and later as a prosecutor of child protection. In 2011, she was appointed County Court Judge for the Denver County Court. She retired from her judicial position in 2019.

Briscoe has received numerous awards and honors including the Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Shaka Franklin Foundation for Youth, Workers Advocating for Youth Award from the State of Colorado in 1988, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award from the MLK CO State Commission in 2005, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sam Cary Bar Association in 2017, the Woman of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of Colorado in 2019, and the Woman of the Decade Award from the Colorado Gospel Music Academy and Hall of Fame in 2021.

Briscoe served as president and historian of the Sam Cary Bar Association, president and treasurer of Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated, Denver Chapter, and secretary and chaplain of the Denver Colorado Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. She served on the Colorado Bar Association Board of Governors, the Shaka Franklin Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Advisory Council for the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman. She was a member of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association and the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association.

As a member of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.’s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy from 2004 to 2008, she traveled to several Middle East countries as a peacemaker and also chaired a committee that published an article on voting rights for prisoners.

Briscoe resides in Denver, Colorado. She has three children, LaDawn, Ruthie, and James. She also has two grandsons.

The Honorable Dianne Briscoe was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 9, 2025.

Filmmaker donnie l. betts was born on June 19, 1952 in DeKalb, Texas to Mayme Haynes and Norris Betts. He earned his B.A. degree in mass communications from Metropolitan State University of Denver in Denver, Colorado in 1987. He went on to study at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut between 1987 and 1990.

Before he began his film career, betts worked on his family’s farm and as a salesclerk with Raymond Department Store until 1970. He was a founding member of the Denver Black Arts Company in 1976, where he participated in the productions of The Hobbit, The River Niger, and more. He held various casting and production positions on television series like Carol & Company, In Living Color, and Dream On, while appearing in two Perry Mason television films in 1993. betts performed with the Denver Center Theatre Company for nine seasons, and in 1995, he founded No Credits Productions. That same year, he completed his first documentary, Dearfield: The Road Less Traveled, a story about Dearfield, Colorado’s historic African American farming community founded in 1910, and La La Uncut, a commercial film about a rock star. In 1998, betts revised and rebranded Destination Freedom, a weekly program which began in 1948 in Chicago by Richard Durham, now known as Destination Freedom Black Radio Days, an audio drama and interview series, as producer, writer and director. He directed the documentary, Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown Jr., in 2005. His other productions include “Lincoln Hills” and “Justina Ford, MD”, episodes in the Colorado Experience series from the Public Broadcasting Service, The Artist, My Voice, and The Holly. In 2020, betts served as a visiting lecturer in the College of Arts & Media at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Throughout his career, betts received numerous awards and honors including two Heartland Emmy Awards in 2005, 2024, and a National Emmy in 2025. He was the youngest recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts from the State of Colorado in 1993. Between 1995 and 2008, he was the recipient of Best Documentary and Audience awards from various film festivals; and in 2003, he was a two-time winner of the Colorado Association of Black Journalists’ (CABJ) Scribes in Excellence Award and the Radio Journalist of the Year Award.

betts has served as a member of the NAACP and ACLU. As an actor, he has held memberships with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Actors’ Equity Association.

betts has two children, Adrianne Traylor and Timothy J. Betts. He also has three grandchildren. betts and his wife, Linda Morken, reside in Aurora, Colorado.

Filmmaker Dawn Porter was born on June 11, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York, New York to Donna Liggins and David Peter Porter. She attended Bronx High School of Science before earning her B.A. degree in political science from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania in 1988. In 1993, Porter earned her J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C.

That same year, Porter began her career as an attorney with Baker & Hostetler LLP in Washington D.C. After five years with the firm, she was hired by ABC Television in New York, New York, where she worked as an attorney until 2000. Then, she joined ABC News as the director of standards and practices, and she worked with the company until 2005. Porter was hired as the vice president of the Arts & Entertainment Network (A&E) that same year. In 2018, Porter joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism as a professor and head of the documentary program.

Porter founded her production company, Trilogy Films, in 2007. She went on to direct and produce her first film, Gideon’s Army, in 2013. She produced and directed her second project, Spies of Mississippi, which premiered on PBS in 2014. Porter’s 2016 film entitled Trapped, about abortion clinics in the South, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Her four-part series Bobby Kennedy for President was released on Netflix in 2018, and the documentary film John Lewis: Good Trouble was released in 2020. That same year, Porter produced and directed The Way I See It and Vernon Jordan: Make It Plain. Her documentary film, Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer was released by National Geographic in 2021. Porter produced and directed the miniseries Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court in 2023, which was released on Showtime. Then, her Hulu Original film, The Lady Bird Diaries, premiered in 2023. In 2024, Porter directed and produced three films and series: The Sing Sing Chronicles, Luther: Never Too Much, and Power of the Dream.

Porter has served as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Directors Guild of America. Throughout her career, Porter has received numerous awards and honors including a 2014 Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize for her film Gideon’s Army. In 2021, John Lewis: Good Trouble won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary Film. Porter was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities in 2024 by former President Joe Biden. Her film Luther: Never Too Much was the recipient of two NAACP Image Awards in 2025: Outstanding Documentary Film and Outstanding Directing in a Documentary.

Porter resides in New York, New York.

Dawn Porter was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 16, 2025.

Lawyer and association executive Michele A. Roberts was born on September 14, 1956 in New York, New York to Elsie and Fred Roberts. She earned her B.A. degree in government from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 1977, before earning her J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1980.

Roberts joined the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia as an attorney in 1980, where she rose to the position of chief trial deputy. Then, in 1988, Roberts joined Perazich & Wynn as a partner. That same year, she became an instructor at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. She opened her law firms, Roberts & Moore, in 1991 and Rochon & Roberts in 1995. In 2005, Roberts became a partner at the law firm of Shea & Gardner. The following year, she joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and remained there until 2011, when she was hired as a partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She left Skadden after being hired as the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association in 2014, where she remained until her retirement in 2021. In 2023, she served as co-founding principal of the Free Fair Litigation Group and subsequently joined JAMS in 2024.

During her career, Roberts served as a board director for the Robert A. Shuker Scholarship Fund, JusticeAid, and The Washington Ballet. She also served as a board member of the Bronx Defenders from 2017 to 2024, Cresco Labs from 2020 to 2024, the Marshall Project from 2021 to 2024, and the Southern Center for Human Rights beginning in 2024. Roberts is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice, a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and an advisor to the Pro Sports Assembly. She has served on the board of trustees of her alma mater, Wesleyan University, since 2023.

Roberts has received numerous awards and honors including the Stars of the Bar Award from the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia in 2003; Business Trial Lawyer of the Year from Chambers USA in 2011; ESPNW’s “Impact 25” in 2014; the Metropolitan Black Bar Association’s Trailblazer of the Year Award; the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce’s Outstanding Achievement Award; and the Citation Award from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2015. She received the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force’s Sam Lacy Pioneer Award and the National Bar Association’s Achievement Award in 2016; Wesleyan University’s Distinguished Alumni Award and the Black Entertainment & Sports Lawyers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017; and the Bronx Museum’s Achievement Award in 2018. In 2019, she received the Legal Aid Society’s Servant of Justice Award, the Gamechangers’ Leadership & Service Award, Southern Company’s Trailblazer Award, and the Women in Sports & Events’ Women of Distinction Award. In 2023, Roberts was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of San Francisco and was inducted into the Bronx Basketball Hall of Fame.

Roberts resides in New York, New York.

Michele A. Roberts was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 15, 2025.

University president and immunologist Dr. James E.K. Hildreth, Sr. was born on December 27, 1956 to Lucy and Robert Hildreth in Camden, Arkansas. He earned his B.A. degree in chemistry from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1979. He received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford in England, where he earned his Ph.D. degree in immunology in 1982. He also earned his M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland in 1987.

That same year, Hildreth was hired as an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, before becoming first an associate professor and later a tenured professor. Hildreth also served as an associate dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He left Johns Hopkins in 2005, when he was hired as the director of the Meharry Medical College Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research in Nashville, Tennessee. Then, Hildreth became the dean of the University of California, Davis’s college of biological sciences in 2011, before returning to Meharry Medical College as the president and CEO in 2015.

Hildreth served on the Harvard University Board of Overseers between 2014 and 2016 and as the chair of the Veterans Affairs National Academic Affiliations Council between 2017 and 2024. He also served as the board chair of the St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences between 2017 and 2022. Hildreth joined the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee in 2020 and its Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee in 2021.

Hildreth has received numerous recognitions for his achievements. In 1987, he was named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation. Hildreth was inducted into the Alpha Omega Honor Society in 2000, the National Academy of Medicine in 2008, the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars in 2011. He received the Director’s Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health in 2011, an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas in 2015, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2017. He was named one of the “50 Most Influential Clinical Leaders” by Modern Healthcare in 2021. Hildreth was awarded the Amir De Souza Award for Excellence in International Scholarship by the United Methodist Church in 2022, the Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2022, and an honorary doctorate degree from the University of the South in 2023. In 2024, Easterseals Tennessee named Hildreth the Nashvillian of the Year.

Hildreth and his wife, Phyllis, reside in Nashville, Tennessee. They have two children, James and Sophia Hildreth.

Dr. James E.K. Hildreth, Sr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 11, 2024.

Professor Lucius Turner Outlaw, Jr. was born on December 28, 1944 to Lillie Mae Outlaw and Lucius Turner Outlaw, Sr. in Starkville, Mississippi. He received his B.A. degree in philosophy from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1967 and his Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts in 1972.

After completing his Ph.D. degree, Outlaw was hired as an assistant professor at Fisk University before being promoted to associate professor. In 1977, he joined Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland as an associate professor before leaving to join the faculty of Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania in 1980. There, Outlaw first served as an associate professor and then as a professor. He taught as a visiting associate professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia between 1986 and 1987, and as the Honorable David S. Nelson Professor at Boston College between 1996 and 1998. In 2000, Outlaw was hired as a professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Vanderbilt, Outlaw served as the Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. Distinguished Leadership Professor and as the W. Alton Jones Chair and professor emeritus.

Outlaw was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1967. He joined the American Philosophical Association in 1970, where he served as a general member, a member of the board of officers, a member of numerous committees, and as a committee chairperson. Outlaw has also been a member of the North American Society for Social and Political Philosophy and the Agora Assembly. Outlaw’s publications include On Race and Philosophy and Critical Social Theory in the Interests of Black Folks.

Outlaw has received numerous recognitions for his professional achievements. In 2000, he was awarded the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Teaching from Haverford College, and in 2002, he received the Chancellor’s Cup from Vanderbilt University. He was honored with the John Dewey Lecture at the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association annual meeting in 2011. Outlaw has also received the Dr. William R. Jones Award from the 20th Annual Philosophy Born of Struggle Conference at Purdue University in 2013 and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Allegheny College in 2014.

Outlaw and his wife, Freida, reside in Nashville, Tennessee. They have three sons: Lucius Turner Outlaw, III, Kofi Outlaw, and Chike Hasani-Hopkins Outlaw. They also have four grandchildren.

Lucius Turner Outlaw, Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 12, 2024.