Ballpoint pen on paper. From my sketchbook.

Interesting fact: He was the most photographed American of the 19th Century, self-consciously using photography to advance his political views. He never smiled, specifically so as not to play into the racist caricature of a happy slave. He tended to look directly into the camera to confront the viewer, with a stern look.

Ballpoint pen on paper. From my sketchbook.

Born Malcolm Little, he changed his last name to X to signify his rejection of his “slave” name. Charismatic and eloquent, Malcolm X became an influential leader of the Nation of Islam and sought to encourage and enfranchise disadvantaged young blacks searching for confidence in segregated America.

Interesting Fact: Although Malcolm X was thriving in school, his eighth-grade teacher discouraged him from pursuing his interest in becoming a lawyer. The teacher suggested that carpentry was a more realistic goal for a young Black man. That prompted Malcolm X to quit school and become a hustler.

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Ballpoint pen on paper. From my sketchbook.

Interesting Facts: Thurgood Marshall's name was originally Thoroughgood but he shortened it to Thurgood in grade two because he was tired of having to spell it out.

Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice on October 2nd, 1967, making him the first African-American to hold the position in U.S. history. Thurgood served as a Supreme Court Justice for 24 years, retiring in 1991 after having ruled on many landmark cases.

Ballpoint pen on paper. From my sketchbook.

Interesting Fact: She carried a cane, not for support but for effect. She said it gave her "swank".

Mary McLeod Bethune was an American educator, stateswoman, philanthropist, humanitarian and civil rights activist best known for starting a private school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Ballpoint pen on paper. From my sketchbook.

Matthew Henson was an explorer during the late 1800s and early 1900s. He made many journeys to the Arctic during that time. In 1909, a group led by the famous American polar explorer Robert E. Peary may have been the first people to reach the North Pole. Matt Henson was part of that group.

Interesting Fact: Henson was not happy with his living situation and ran away from home when he was eleven years old. He moved in with a neighbor woman who took pity on him and took care of him. When he was twelve years old, he got a job as a cabin boy on a ship.

In 1912 Henson wrote a book about his explorations titled "A Negro Explorer at the North Pole".

Ballpoint pen on paper. From my sketchbook.

Educator Booker T. Washington was one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founding the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now known as Tuskegee University. Born into slavery in Virginia in the mid-to-late 1850s, Washington put himself through school and became a teacher after the Civil War.

Interesting Fact: He was the first African-American man on a U.S. postage stamp.

Ballpoint pen on paper. From my sketchbook.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was a professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. Robinson's character, his use of nonviolence, and his unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation which then marked many other aspects of American life.

Interesting Fact: On April 15, 1997, Robinson's jersey number, 42, was retired throughout Major League Baseball, the first time any jersey number had been retired throughout one of the four major American sports leagues.

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Fred Gray is a civil rights attorney, preacher and activist who practices law in Alabama. He litigated several major civil rights cases in Alabama, including some that reached the United States Supreme Court for rulings.

In 1955, he took on the cases of Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, who were both charged with disorderly conduct for refusing to give up their seats on a bus to white passengers. Parks's case sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for more than a year and led to the desegregation of the bus lines.

Interesting Fact:Gray was portrayed by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the 2014 film Selma, which dramatizes the Selma to Montgomery marches and Gray's argument before Judge Frank Johnson that the march should be allowed to go forward.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

Interesting Fact: King entered college at the age 15. He was such a gifted student that he skipped grades nine and 12 before enrolling in 1944 at Morehouse College, the alma mater of his father and maternal grandfather.