Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction, and eventually winning the National Book Award for Invisible Man. Appointed to the Academy of American Arts and Letters in 1964, Ellison taught at several institutions, including Bard College, the University of Chicago, and New York University, where he was Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities.

John F. Callahan is the Odell Professor of Humanities at Lewis & Clark College. Callahan has been the editor or writer on numerous volumes related to African American and twentieth-century literature. As the literary executor to Ralph Ellison, Callahan worked as the primary editor for Ellison’s posthumously released novel Juneteenth.

Marc C. Conner is the Jo M. and James M. Ballengee Professor of English and provost at Washington and Lee University.