Black women who changed the nation.

• Author: Slonim, Jillian M.
• Position: Traveling exhibit by photographer Brian Lanker

AN EXHIBITION of photographic portraits of 75 remarkable Americans who have made their mark on the life of the nation is touring the country. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker spent two years photographing and interviewing women from all sections of the country and all walks of life. "In their lifetimes, the women in this exhibition saw changes come to pass," he notes. "Many pioneered the way and opened door after door. These are women who took a mighty step across the stage of America."

Saluted are individuals prominent in every field from the arts and letters to medicine, law, and the military, as well as those whose unsung contributions are equally important and inspiring. Many who advanced the modern civil rights and women's movement are included.

Among the women Lanker has photographed and interviewed are writers Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Alice Walker; political leaders Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm; activists and organizers Marian Wright Edelman, Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks, and Septima Clark; singers Marian Anderson, Odetta, Lena Horne, and Leontyne Price; athletes Althea Gibson and Wilma Rudolph; dancer Katherine Dunham; media personalities Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Oprah Winfrey; and actresses Ruby Dee and Cicely Tyson. Others include Mother Clara Hale, founder of Hale House for AIDS babies in New York City; cancer...