David Montgomery is the Farnam Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and Past-President of the Organization of American Historians. Renowned for his scholarship on race and labor, he also has deep roots in the American labor movement as a worker and union activist. His many books include The Fall of the House of Labor and Citizen Worker.

Joan Suarez went to work for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America as an Education Representative in 1962. She found her life-long niche as a labor and community organizer in San Antonio, Texas before returning to St. Louis, Missouri, as  Southwest Regional Director and International Vice President for UNITE!, where she continued to serve until her retirement in 2002. She is currently the chair of the Missouri Immigrant & Refugees Advocates and co-chair of the Worker Rights Board, a project of Missouri Jobs With Justice.

Joshua B. Freeman is Professor of History at the City University of New York. He has written extensively about the history of labor, modern America, and New York City. His books include Working-Class New York: Life and Labor since World War II, Audacious Democracy: Labor, Intellectuals, and the Social Renewal of America (with Steve Fraser), and In Transit: The Transport Workers Union in New York City, 1933-1966.