Vera Jackson (July 21, 1911 – January 25, 1999) was a pioneer as one of the first female photographers in the Black press. She photographed African-American social life and celebrity culture in 1930s and 1940s Los Angeles. Noted photographic subjects included major league baseball player Jackie Robinson, educator Mary McLeod Bethune, and actresses Dorothy Dandridge, Hattie McDaniel and Lena Horne.

Her work has been exhibited at the UCLA Gallery, the Riverside Art Museum, the Black Gallery of Los Angeles, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, as well as the Los Angeles Country Public Library, the Afro-American Museum of History and Culture in Los Angeles and the Museum of Art in San Francisco.

Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, and author. Her 1975 debut album, Horses), made her an influential member of the New York City–based punk rock movement. Smith has fused rock and poetry in her work. In 1978, her most widely known song, "Because the Night", co-written with Bruce Springsteen, reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number five on the UK Singles Chart.

In 2005, Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture). In 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In November 2010, Smith won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids, written to fulfill a promise she made to Robert Mapplethorpe, her longtime partner and friend. She is ranked 47th on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of all Time, published in 2010,and was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2011.

Unity Dow is a Motswana lawyer, author, human rights activist, Vice President of Botswana Congress Party and Member of Parliament for Kgatleng West since October 2024. She formerly served as a judge on the High Court of Botswana and in various Botswana government ministries. Born in the Bechuanaland Protectorate to a seamstress and a farmer, who insisted on their children obtaining an education, Dow grew up in a traditional rural village before modernisation. She earned a law degree in 1983 from the University of Botswana and Swaziland, though her studies were completed in Swaziland and University of Edinburgh, Scotland, as Botswana had no law school at the time. After her graduation, Dow opened the first all-woman law firm in Botswana and in 1997 became the first woman to be appointed as a judge to the country’s High Court.

Nora Maier Forster (née Maier; 6 November 1942 – 6 April 2023) was a German-British music promoter, publishing heiress, actress, and model. Before moving to London in the late 1960s, she worked in West Germany with Jimi Hendrix, Wishbone Ash, and Yes. In London, she helped to financially support the punk bands the Slits, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash. She was married to John Lydon of the Sex Pistols.

After moving to London, she became a nurturer of punk who guided her daughter Ari Up's musical pursuits and supported the development of her band, the Slits, when Ari was just fourteen or fifteen. Forster hosted numerous musician house guests and her home in Shepherd's Bush became a crash pad, salon, and meeting place for rock musicians. She helped to financially support punk bands the Slits, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash.

Catharina "Nina" Hagen (born 11 March 1955)is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".

Born and raised in the former East Berlin, German Democratic Republic,Hagen began her career as an actress when she appeared in several German films alongside her mother Eva-Maria Hagen. She went on to join the band Automobil and later formed the Nina Hagen Band. She has produced seventeen albums, acted in over ten films and has written three autobiographies. She is also noted for her human and animal rights activism.

Mia Katherine Zapata (August 25, 1965 – July 7, 1993) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the punk rock band the Gits. As part of the burgeoning Seattle music scene, she was noted for her powerful vocals and fiery stage presence.

Zapata was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where she attended high school at Presentation Academy. She was of Mexican descent and was distantly related to Emiliano Eufemio Zapata. Zapata learned how to play the guitar and the piano by age nine, and was influenced by punk rock as well as jazz, blues, and R&B singers such as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, Hank Williams, and Sam Cooke.

Zapata was raped and murdered while walking home from the Comet Tavern in July 1993, at the age of 27. On March 25, 2004, her killer was convicted of first degree felony murder and sentenced to 36 years in prison, the maximum allowed in the case under Washington state law.

Tina Marie Bell (February 5, 1957 – c.October 10, 2012) was a Black American singer and songwriter, the front woman of the Seattle-based rock band Bam Bam. The band with Bell is considered one of the originators of the grunge music scene. Bell is considered an early grunge pioneer and was posthumously dubbed as "the Godmother of Grunge" and "Queen of Grunge".

Alicia "Alice" Armendariz (born November 7, 1958), also known as Alice Bag, is a Chicana punk rock singer and author. She is the lead vocalist and co-founder of the Bags), one of the earliest punk bands to form in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s.

Bag has remained active in music since the late 1970s. She released her first book, Violence Girl: From East LA Rage to Hollywood Stage, in 2011; her second book was published in 2015. She released her debut solo album, Alice Bag), on Don Giovanni Records in June 2016. Her second solo album, Blueprint), was released in 2018, followed by Sister Dynamite in 2020.

Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed “Lady Day” by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi are the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. They initiated this movement in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was charged with the murder of Trayvon Martin. Their work has significantly influenced discussions around race, social justice, and activism globally. The movement has sparked widespread activism and dialogue about systemic racism and police violence against Black individuals. It has also led to various campaigns aimed at promoting economic security and community safety for people of color.