Acclaimed for his writing on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as his passionate defense of black youth culture, Dyson is known as the "hip-hop intellectual." With his Blackboard best seller "Holler If You Hear Me, " he has reaches his widest audience to date, bringing to life the hopes and dreams of slain hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur. 14 photos.

Michael Eric Dyson has been named by Ebony as one of the one hundred most influential black Americans and is the author of fourteen other books. He is University Professor at Georgetown University and lives in Washington, D.C.