Dr. Weill is the former Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease and Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at Stanford University Medical Center, where he provided oversight for the interstitial lung disease, cystic fibrosis, and transplant programs. He is currently the Principal of the Weill Consulting Group which focuses on improving the delivery of pulmonary, ICU, and transplant care.

Clint Smith is the author of the narrative nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America,  which was a #1 New York Times bestseller, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, the Stowe Prize, and selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2021.  How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers), with Sonja Cherry-Paul, will be published in September 2025 (Little, Brown).

Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of National Bestseller, The American Daughters, published by One World Random House.

Sister Helen Prejean is known around the world for her tireless work against the death penalty. 

Jonathan Martin is the politics bureau chief and senior political columnist at POLITICO, where he writes a reported column.  Prior to starting his column in 2022, Martin was the national political correspondent for The New York Times, where he served as the publication’s top political reporter for nearly a decade.  He is the co-author of the New York Times best-seller This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future, which gave readers in-the-room access to the extraordinary events of the 2020 election and i

Don Lemon spent three decades on local and national TV, a trusted voice after the Sandy Hook massacre, in war-torn Eastern Europe, and during the riots of 2020. Anchoring Don Lemon Tonight on CNN, he was known for hard-hitting interviews with public officials and compassionate dialogue with everyday people. The Don Lemon Show is now streaming on all platforms. His latest book, I Once Was Lost, is a deeply personal follow-up to his #1 bestseller This is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends about Racism. 

Nicholas Lemann was born, raised and educated in New Orleans. He began his journalism career as a 17-year-old writer for an alternative weekly newspaper there, the Vieux Carre Courier. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1976, where he concentrated in American history and literature and was president of the Harvard Crimson.

Howard Hunter is a native of New Orleans and a history teacher of forty-two years. He has published articles on New Orleans history and why history matters for both academic and general audiences.