A. Grace Lee Mims

[4] The group's name, The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe, commemorated two enslaved ancestors whose stories were recounted by their grandfather William James Edwards.

[7] She also launched the first Afrocentric course in the Cleveland Public Schools system and created the Black Arts Festival, which attracted notable guests such as Muhammad Ali.

[7] In 1976 she approached Robert Conrad, the president of WCLV, with the idea of hosting a show centered around African-American classical music and jazz.

[4] Over the course of the 43 years of hosting the "Black Arts" show, she conducted extensive research to inform her profiles of artists such as Jessye Norman, Leontyne Price, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington.

[7] The purpose of the scholarship is to "perpetuate the singing of the Negro spiritual through performance and/or teaching, so that this art form, created by African-American slaves in the Diaspora, will remain alive.

"[12] She and her husband established the Cleveland chapter of the Hampton University Alumni Association, which also awards scholarships to local area students.