Ian Hartman is a professor and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He researches and teaches on race, culture, and public policy in the American West, and is particularly interested in issues regarding power, wealth, and inequality. He teaches history from the bottom-up and stresses how regular people have changed the course of American history in ways both big and small. He recently partnered with the National Park Service to write a Black history of Alaska and with the University of Washington Press to reissue and expand the study. He has also partnered with the Anchorage Museum on exhibitions and continuing education courses. He earned his bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and completed his PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011. He enjoys hiking, traveling, talking politics, and cheering his beloved Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins.

Cal Williams is a community activist. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, he graduated college, served in the United States Air Force during the early 1960s, participated in the historic March on Washington, and was affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1965, he moved to Alaska, seeking job opportunities, racial integration and a better life. He has served as President of the Alaska Chapter of the NAACP, and as District 22 chair for the Alaska Democratic Party, was a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and ran for the Alaska House of Representatives. Cal served as the Filipino choir director at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, as Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus at St. Patrick's Church, and as chaplain for American Legion Post 34. He helped exhibit the collection of the late historian George Harper, who documented the history of African Americans in Alaska. Cal is a past board member for Anchorage Senior Activity Center.

Here is a link to Ian's page at UAA - https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-arts-and-sciences/departments/history/faculty/hartman.cshtml

Here is a link to "When Black Troops Built the Al-Can" The Forum podcast from 11 September 2016 - http://auuf-podcasts.org/AUUF_Podcasts/podcastgen/?name=2016-09-11_20160911_0900.mp3

Here is a link to the Anchorage Museum Ehibitiopn - Black Lives in Alaska: Journey, Justice, Joy - https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/exhibits/black-lives-in-alaska-journey-justice-joy/