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The twenty-one people portrayed here represent the highest qualities of character and achievement. The group is not ideal except to the extent that it is worthy of that tribute by my personal standards. You might select a different group of people to honor. I chose this group in part because of the great pleasure I took in painting their portraits.
Abraham Lincoln, Ida Wells, Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr. are easily linked by their impassioned crusades for racial justice and equality. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is included for her tireless advocacy for women's rights and for social justice for all.
Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and Albert Camus are preeminent writers and seekers of truth. Journalists Jessica Mitford and I. F. Stone inuenced public action and social reform for the public good. Vincent van Gogh, the incomparable modern painter, and the musicians Enrico Caruso, Renata Tebaldi, Billie Holiday, and Giuseppe Verdi arouse our deepest feelings and aspirations with the beauty of their art.
Fidel Castro has done more than anyone to foil US imperialism in Latin America. And four great athletes, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Roger Federer, deserve our respect for their unmatched grace and prowess.
-Thomas Crawford
