John W. Work III (1901-1966) was a gifted composer and educator. One of the first African American academics to argue the value of African American folk music, he preserved this heritage both in his book, American Negro Songs and Spirituals, and through his work with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, which he directed from 1947 until 1956. He retired from Fisk University in 1966.

Lewis Wade Jones (1910-1979) was an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at Fisk University from 1932 to 1942, where he worked closely with Charles S. Johnson. In 1949 the two co-wrote A Statistical Analysis of Southern Counties: Shifts in the Negro Population of Alabama. After leaving Fisk, Jones moved to the Tuskegee Institute School of Education, where he was a professor of sociology.

After receiving his master's degree from Fisk University, Samuel C. Adams jr. (1920-2001) attended the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD in 1953. He had a long and distinguished career in public service, highlighted by his appointment to the post of Ambassador to the Republic of Niger in 1968-1969.

Robert Gordon is a writer and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. His most recent book is Memphis Rent Party: The Blues, Rock & Soul in Music's Hometown.

Bruce Nemerov has been, variously, a musician, radio and record producer, and writer. He was awarded a Grammy for the notes to John W. Work III: Recording Black Culture, an album of Work's field recordings.