Nominees

Members of the Grinnell College community nominated these individuals for consideration as part of the Inscriptions for the Future selection process. The nominees range from scholars, musicians, and artists to activists and public servants. Each in their own way, their work transformed the world, even if dominant segments of society overlooked their value(s) during their lifetime.

Henry Carter Adams, economist, and professor (United States, 1851–1921)
Jane Addams, activist, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author (United States, 1860–1935)
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Persian polymath (Iraq, 780 AD–850 AD)
B. R. Ambedkar, jurist, economist, and social reformer (India, 1891–1956)
Maya Angelou, poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist (United States, 1928–2014)
Gloria Anzaldúa, scholar (United States, 1942–2004)
Hannah Arendt, political philosopher, author, Holocaust survivor (Germany, United States, 1906–1975)
Louis Armstrong, American trumpeter, composer, vocalist, and actor (United States, 1901–1971)
James Baldwin, novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist (United States, 1924–1987)
Ibn Battuta, scholar, and explorer (Morocco, 1304–)
Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist (South Africa, 1946–1977)
Grace Lee Boggs, author, social activist, philosopher, and feminist (United States, 1915–2015)
Mary Brave Bird, writer, and activist (United States, 1954–2013)
Octavia Butler, speculative fiction author (United States, 1947–2006)
Hattie Canty, labor activist (United States,1933–2012)
George Carlin, comedian, actor, social critic, and author (United States, 1937–2008)
Rachel Carson, marine biologist, author, and conservationist (United States, 1907–1964)
Lucille Clifton, poet, writer, and educator (United States, 1936–2010)
Lyda Conley, lawyer (United States, 1869–1946)
Justin Dart Jr., activist (United States, 1930–2002)
Thomas A. Dorsey, gospel musician and composer (United States, 1899–1993)
Emilie Du Châtelet, philosopher, and mathematician (France, 1706–1749)
Frantz Fanon, psychiatrist, and philosopher (France, United States, 1925–1961)
Anténor Firmin, anthropologist, journalist, and politician (Haiti, 1850–1911)
Anne Frank, diarist (Germany, 1929–1945)
Rosalind Franklin, chemist (United Kingdom, 1920–1958)
Paulo Freire, educator, and philosopher (Brazil, 1921–1997)
Marvin Gaye, singer, songwriter, and record producer (United States, 1939–1984)
Artemisia Gentileschi, painter (Italy, 1593–1653)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, gender rights advocate (United States, 1933–2020)
Chiquinha Gonzaga, composer, pianist, and the first female conductor in Brazil (Brazil, 1847–1935)
Sarah Grimké, abolitionist (United States, 1792–1873)
Grinnellian, 1846
Fanny Lou Hamer, women’s rights activist, community organizer, and civil rights leader (United States, 1917–1977)
Fred Hampton, activist (United States, 1948–1969)
Jimi Hendrix, musician, singer, and songwriter (United States, 1942–1970)
Abraham Joshua Heschel, rabbi, and scholar (Poland, United States; 1907–1972)
Grace Hopper, computer scientist, and United States Navy rear admiral (United States, 1906–1992)
Langston Hughes, poet, novelist, fiction writer, and playwright (United States, 1901–1967)
Larry Itliong, labor organizer (Philippines, United States, 1913–1977)
Katherine Johnson, pioneering mathematician (United States, 1918– 2020)
Marsha Johnson, gay liberation activist (United States, 1945–1992)
Frida Kahlo, artist, painter, political activist (Mexico, 1907–1954)
Anna Komnene, Byzantine princess, physician, and scholar (1083–1153)
Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya, mathematician (Russia, Sweden, 1850–1891)
Jacob Lawrence, painter (United States, 1917-2000)
John Lennon, singer, songwriter, and peace activist (United Kingdom, 1940–1980)
Aldo Leopold, author, philosopher, ecologist, and environmental advocate (United States, 1887–1948)
John Lewis, American statesman, and civil rights activist (United States, 1940–2020)
William Arthur Lewis, pioneering economist (St. Lucia, 1915–1991)
Audrey Lorde, writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist (United States, 1934–1992)
Toussaint Louverture, military commander, leader of the Haitian revolution (Saint Dominigue/Haiti, 1743–1803)
Rosa Luxemburg, Polish Marxist economist, anti-war activist, philosopher, and revolutionary socialist (Poland, Germany, 1871–1919)
Wilma Mankiller, activist, social worker, community developer, and the first woman elected to serve as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation (United States, 1945–2010)
Karl Marx, philosopher, theorist, journalist, and socialist revolutionary (Prussia/Germany, 1818–1883)
Peg Mullen, antiwar activist (United States, 1917–2009)
Huey Newton, revolutionary (United States, 1942–1989)
Emmy Noether, mathematician (Germany, 1882–1935)
Elinor Ostrom, political economist (United States, 1933–2012)
Srinivasa Ramanujan, pioneering mathematician (Madras/British India, 1887–1920)
Carl Rogers, psychologist, humanist, and author (United States, 1902–1987)
Fred Rogers, television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister (United States, 1928–2003)
Vera Rubin, astronomer (United States, 1928–2016)
Edward Said, professor of literature, public intellectual, and founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies (Palestine, United States, 1935–2003)
Sappho, poet (Greece, c. 630 – c. 570 B.C.E.)
Nina Simone, vocalist, classical pianist, and civil rights activist (United States, France, 1933–2003)
Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota leader (United States, 1831–1890)
Haunani-Kay Trask, activist, educator, author, and poet (United States, 1949–2021)
Alan Turing, mathematician, computer scientist, philosopher, and theoretical biologist (United Kingdom, 1912–1954)
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, lawyer, jurist, journalist, and writer (Germany, Italy, 1825–1895)
Mary Wollstonecraft, writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights (United Kingdom. 1759–1797)
Malcolm X, Muslim leader, activist (United States, 1925–1965)
Zhuangzi (a.k.a. Zhuang Zhou), philosopher, writer, and humorist (China, fourth century B.C.E.)