Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua is a member of the Leadership team of The Ubuntu Project CU in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, a member of the Executive Council of the Association for the Study of African American History (ASALH), writes a bi-weekly column, “RealTalk: A Black Perspective,” for the News Gazette daily newspaper and hosts RealTalk: History as a Weapon for Black Liberation on the Black Liberation Media network.

Augustus Wood is an Assistant Professor in the Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a scholar of political economy and labor, Black radicalism and working-class social movements in modern African American history. He is the author of the book, Class Warfare in Black Atlanta: Grassroots Struggles, Power, and Repression Under Gentrification (2025). He also serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of African American History and Labor Studies Journal. He is the President of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center and hosts the podcast, “Off the Shelf: Revolutionary Readings in Times of Crisis,” and the award nominated Radio Free Labor program.