Lesser-known facts about the father of modern science
Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist in the 1950s and early 1960s. He was a field secretary for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). He organized voter registration efforts, protests, and boycotts.
James Meredith was a US Air Force veteran and the first Black student to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962. He had applied to study at the school multiple times but was denied solely based on his race. Meredith continued to engage in activism throughout the rest of the decade.
Roy Wilkins served as executive director of the NAACP from 1955 to 1977. He worked on major civil rights campaigns, including the March on Washington and the Voting Rights Acts of 1965.
Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights lawyer who became the first Black justice on the US Supreme Court. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he was known for his work with the NAACP and won a series of court decisions that led to Brown v. Board of Education and the end of racial segregation in schools.
In 1960, at six years of age, Ruby Bridges was the first Black child to attend William Franz Elementary School, an all-white public school in New Orleans. Her bravery in the face of intense opposition and racism made her a symbol of the civil rights movement.
Kristen Clarke became the first Black woman to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in 2021. She was also the attorney of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the president and executive director of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
In 2005, James Rucker co-founded Color of Change to provide relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina. In the years that followed, Color of Change has evolved into an online civil rights organization that aims to strengthen the political voice of Black Americans in the United States.
Nekima Levy Armstrong is an award-winning civil rights lawyer, scholar-activist, and past president of the Minneapolis NAACP. Armstrong was instrumental in organizing the country's first protests in George Floyd's name following his murder at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin.
Brittany Packnett Cunningham is a social justice leader, educator, and organizer who played a key role in the Ferguson Uprising in response to the police killing of Michael Brown in 2014.
Ibram X. Kendi is an author, professor, activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in the US. He is the author of 'How to Be Antiracist', which surged in popularity in the wake of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi are the founders of Black Lives Matter, an organization that was started in 2013 as a reaction to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Lateefah Simon advocates for civil rights and racial justice. She served as Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and Program Director of the Rosenberg Foundation. She was also the youngest woman ever to receive the MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' Award.
Michelle Alexander is a civil rights lawyer, educator, and author of the 2010 bestselling book 'The New Jim Crow,' which helped change how race and criminal justice were discussed in the US.
After being diagnosed with HIV in 1987 and losing his partner to AIDS two years later, Phil Wilson dedicated himself to spreading awareness of the disease. He founded the Black AIDS Institute in 1999 to ensure education surrounding prevention and treatment would reach communities in need.
Tarana Burke is the founder of the Me Too movement, which sought to help survivors of sexual violence, especially women of color. In 2017, the Me Too campaign became a cultural movement when millions used it on social media during Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse scandal.
Marsha P. Johnson led an uprising after members of the LGBTQ+ communities were harassed by police at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. She also created the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, which worked to find housing for homeless transgender youth.
Julian Bond led a sit-in movement to desegregate Atlanta lunch counters and co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC). He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1967 to 1975 and the Georgia Senate from 1975 to 1987.
John Lewis was an advocate for nonviolent civil rights demonstrations. He led the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and the crossing of Edmund Pettus Bridge, known as "Bloody Sunday," as state troopers violently attacked marchers.
Malcolm X was a prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, promoting Black pride and self-sufficiency and advocating for Black empowerment. He challenged the status quo and fought for the rights and dignity of African Americans until his assassination in 1965.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white passenger, resulting in her being arrested and jailed. Her bravery sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which led to the segregation of buses being deemed unconstitutional.
Pauli Murray was an author, lawyer, and women's rights activist. Murray challenged segregation and sexism and was an early advocate for civil rights and gender equality, contributing to legal strategies that paved the way for landmark Supreme Court rulings.
Dorothy Height, often referred to as the "Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement," was president of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) for four decades. She was instrumental in organizing events like the 1963 March on Washington.
Whitney Young worked to improve economic opportunities for Black Americans. He was the executive director of the National Urban League from 1961 to 1971. Young focused on bridging the gap between white corporate America and Black communities, advocating for job training, education, and fair employment.
Bayard Rustin was committed to nonviolent activism and is credited with organizing many mass civil rights demonstrations, including the Prayer Pilgrimage to Freedom. Despite facing discrimination because of his sexual orientation, he continued to fight for civil rights until his death in 1987.
Rev. James Lawson Jr. played a vital role in training and organizing students and activists in the principles of nonviolent resistance. He was heavily involved in many key civil rights campaigns, including the Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides.
Ella Baker was a field secretary and branch director for the NAACP. She also co-founded an organization that raised money to fight Jim Crow laws and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the SNCC, prioritizing nonviolent protest as a means of achieving civil rights goals.
A. Philip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly Black labor union in the United States. Randolph played a significant role in desegregating the armed forces through his advocacy efforts.
Du Bois was one of the most influential intellectuals of the early 20th century. He co-founded the NAACP and advocated for full civil rights and equality for African Americans. He challenged white supremacy and promoted African American cultural pride in his writings, such as 'The Souls of Black Folk.'
Sources: (Oprah Daily (Britannica) (NAACP)
See also: Black LGBTQ icons who made (and are making) history
Ida B. Wells was a pioneer in investigative journalism and used her writing to expose the horrors of lynching and advocated for social change in the US. She also co-founded the NAACP and was an advocate for women's suffrage.
Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for nonviolent protest and led campaigns against racial segregation and discrimination in the US. King is best known for his role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Birmingham Campaign, and the March on Washington, where he delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech.
Martin Luther King Jr. is the first name that comes to mind when thinking of the Civil Rights Movement, in which African Americans fought for equality during the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond. But there are many other figures whose names we should know—people from the past and present who have made it their priority to fight for the freedom of all Black Americans.
If you'd like to improve your history knowledge, click through this gallery to learn the names of 33 civil rights icons today.
Civil rights leaders you need to know about
From Dorothy Height to James Rucker
LIFESTYLE History
Martin Luther King Jr. is the first name that comes to mind when thinking of the Civil Rights Movement, in which African Americans fought for equality during the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond. But there are many other figures whose names we should know—people from the past and present who have made it their priority to fight for the freedom of all Black Americans.
If you'd like to improve your history knowledge, click through this gallery to learn the names of 33 civil rights icons today.