Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) was the wife of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A noted community leader, she received the Congressional Gold Medal for the extremely important role she played in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and for her continued work to promote the principles of nonviolence following the assassination of her husband. In 1968, she founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia to honor Dr. King's memory and she worked for years to make her husband's birth date on January 15 into a national holiday, a quest that was realized in 1986.

Judge Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, lawyer, federal judge, and New York state senator. After receiving a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1946, Motley began her legal career as a law clerk with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. As the NAACP's lead trial attorney, she was a key legal strategist in the civil rights movement, helping to desegregate Southern schools, buses and lunch counters. In 1950 Motley wrote the original complaint in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. The first African-American woman ever to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, in Meredith v. Fair she successfully won James Meredith's effort to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. Motley was successful in nine of the ten cases she argued before the Supreme Court. The tenth decision, regarding jury composition, was eventually overturned in her favor. She continued to break new ground in 1964, when Motley became the first African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate. In 1965, she was chosen Manhattan Borough President - the first woman and first African-American in that position. In 1966, President Johnson named her a federal court judge - the first African-American woman so named - where she continued (including a term as chief judge) until her death. At the time of her death, she was a district judge for the United States District Court Southern District of New York. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993 and was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 2003, the NAACP's highest honor.

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (1924-2005) was an American politician, educator and author. In 1968, she became the first African-American woman elected to Congress and represented New York's 12th district for seven terms, from 1968-1983. On January 23, 1972, she became the first African-American candidate to run for President of the United States. She won 162 delegates. To date she is the closest any woman has ever come to winning the nomination for President by a major party.

Estella Susie Mitchell Adams (1899-1969), the mother of GMF founder and artistic director Armenta Adams Hummings, is recognized for her parenting and leadership skills. Born in West Elton, Ohio, as one of 11 children reared on a farm, Estella had a dream as a child to have two things: a fine tablecloth and a piano. Estella worked in a laundry when her family moved to Cleveland, where she met and married Albert Adams, a minister who had the gift of healing. After starting a family, Albert, who had finished Johnson C. Smith University, declined a scholarship to Western Reserve Medical School and worked in a metals factory to provide for his family. Estella got the piano and took lessons right along with her children. Practicing the piano was a normal way of life. "I was listening to the piano before I was born," says her daughter. Both parents were church musicians and loved music, especially classical music (Albert played the violin). When Armenta was 4 and her brother, Elwyn, was 7, her parents arranged for the children to take piano and violin lessons during the school year at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. Now Elwyn Adams is a violinist and professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "My mother enrolled right along with us, took lessons and learned to play the great masters, though she had only finished third grade in a one-room schoolhouse," recalls Hummings. "Dad's health would not allow him to living in New England. He kept our house in Cleveland and they endured a school year separation. We went home during the summer." Gateways salutes parents who sacrificed and did all they could to nurture and support the development of their children's musical gifts.

Amadi Hummings, a conductor and violist, has performed as a soloist and orchestral musician in cities throughout the USA, South American, Canada, Asia, and the Caribbean. He is on faculty of James Madison University Music School and has taught at Old Dominion University, the Atlanta University Center and the summer faculties of the Brevard Music School. He has conducted the Old Dominion University Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta University Center Orchestra and currently is Music Director of the Harlem Symphony Orchestra.

Paul Badura-Skoda is one of the most important pianist of our time. This legendary artist has been heard in all of the world's greatest concert halls and for years was the pianist who had the largest number of records available in the market. His musical personality is characterized by complete immersion in music, a passionate search for the essential, and a sense of artistic responsibility. Paul Badura-Skoda has recorded a cast repertoire - more than 200 LPs and dozens of compact discs and performs with equal authority on both period and modern instruments. He was a pioneer in proposing the use of period pianos in performance. His profound knowledge of instruments from Bach's and Mozart's time, up to the present, has given him the capacity to extract from modern instruments a quality of sound that never fails to amaze audiences and critics' alike.

Jordan W. Thomas, 17, is principal harpist for the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and a member of the West Chester Harp Ensemble, Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts Ensemble and Orchestra, and Philadelphia All-City High School Orchestra. At 9, he began playing private harp lessons with Celtic Harpist, Ellen Tepper, and since 2005 has studied with classical and jazz harpist Gloria Galante. He was a featured soloist with the Ocean City Pops of NJ, performing Mozart's Harp and Flute Concerto; and performed Berlioz's Harold in Italy with violist, Roberto Diaz.

Mari-Yan Pringle is one of America's young sopranos to watch. The Queens' native recently completed her studies at the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Carol Webber. She also is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, where she studied with Laura English-Robinson. Currently, Pringle studies with Joan Lader in New York City. She performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's Rising Stars Concert and sang roles of Mozart's Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Mme. Lidoine in the Eastam Production of Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. She has also performed scenes from Britten's Turn of the Screw (Mrs. Grose) and Puccini's Madama Butterfly (Cio-Cio San) at the Music Academy of the West.

Nkeiru Okoye, an exciting African-American voice in the symphonic field in both classical music and educational repertoire, has performed with orchestras in the United States, Europe and Asia. Born and raised in New York City, she is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory. She received the Master's and Doctoral Degrees in composition and theory from Rutgers University. Her best known pieces include Voices Shouting Out, an orchestral short; The Journey of Phillis Wheatley, a narrated demonstration piece; and African sketches for piano. Okoye specializes in writing works for multicultural audiences. Her work is noted for its accessible style and combination of contemporary, classical, African-American, and popular music, as well as West African influences. In her score, The Genesis, she uses the orchestra to imitate a talking drum ensemble.

George Walker is an internationally known composer, pianist and educator. In 1946, Walker composed his String Quartet No. 1. The second movement of this work, entitled Lyric for Strings, has become the most frequently performed orchestral work by a living American composer. In 1950, George Walker became the first black instrumentalist to be signed by a major management, the National Concert Artists. George Walker has taught at various institutions including Dillard University, Dalacroze School of Music, University of Colorado, Rutgers University and John Hopkins University. George Walker has published over 90 works for orchestra, chamber orchestra, piano, strings, organ, woodwinds and chorus.