Emma Azalia Hackley was an African-American singer and political activist. She promoted racial pride through her support and promotion of music education for African Americans. Born Emma Azalia Smith in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, she learned to play the piano at age three and took voice and violin lessons as a child.

Alice Brown (December 5, 1857 - June 21, 1948) was an American novelist, poet and playwright, best known as a writer of local color stories. She was born in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire and graduated from Robinson Seminary in Exeter in 1876. She later worked as a school teacher for five years, but moved to Boston to write full-time in 1884. She first worked at the Christian Register and then, starting in 1885, the Youth's Companion. She was a prolific author for many years, but her popularity waned after the turn of the 20th century. She produced a book a year until she stopped writing in 1935.