This is a list of African-American activists[1] covering various areas of activism, but primarily focus on those African Americans who historically and currently have been fighting racism and racial injustice against African Americans. The United States of America has a long history of racism against its Black citizens.[2] The names detailed below contains only notable African Americans who are known to be activist (sorted by surname).
List of activists
A
- Ralph Abernathy, civil rights activist and minister[3]
- Muhammad Ali, civil rights activist
- Naomi Anderson, civil and women's rights activist[4]
- Maya Angelou, civil rights activist, writer, poet
B
- Ella Baker, civil rights activist
- James Baldwin, civil rights activist, novelist, playwright[5]
- Marion Barry, civil rights activist, politician
- Daisy Bates, civil rights activist, publisher, journalist, lecturer
- Carl Bean, AIDS/HIV and LGBT activist and minister
- Arekia Bennett, voting rights activist
- Mary McLeod Bethune, civil rights activist, educator
- James Bevel, minister, leader of the civil rights movement
- Sojourner Truth, civil rights activist
- Gloria Blackwell, civil rights activist, educator
- Unita Blackwell, civil rights activist
- W. E. B. Du Bois, civil rights activist
- Julian Bond, civil rights activist, professor and writer
- Lillie Mae Bradford, civil rights activist
- Ruby Bridges, civil rights activist
- Aurelia Browder, civil rights activist[6]
- Ralph Bunche, civil rights activist, scientist, academic, diplomat
- Nannie Helen Burroughs, civil and women's rights activist, educator, religious leader and businesswoman[7]
C
- Melanie L. Campbell, voting rights activist
- Beatrice Morrow Cannady, civil rights activist, publisher
- Archibald Carey Jr., civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, politician, diplomat and clergyman[8]
- Bunchy Carter, civil rights activist
- Christine Michel Carter, advocate for caregivers, specifically working mothers[9]
- Jeannette Carter (1886–1964), lawyer, labor organizer, and suffragist
- Julius L. Chambers, civil rights activist
- Fannie Lee Chaney, civil rights activist
- James Chaney, civil rights activist
- Shirley Chisholm, civil rights activist, educator
- Xernona Clayton, civil rights activist
- Septima Poinsette Clark, civil rights activist, educator
- Eldridge Cleaver, civil rights activist
- Kathleen Cleaver, civil rights activist
- Charles E. Cobb Jr., civil rights activist, journalist, professor
- John Conyers, civil rights activist
- Vivian E. J. Cook, educator and activist
- Marvel Cooke, civil rights activist
- Annie Lee Cooper, civil rights activist
- Dorothy Cotton, civil rights activist
- Claudette Colvin, civil rights activist, nurse[10]
- Anna J. Cooper, civil and women's rights activist, author, educator, sociologist, scholar[11]
- John Anthony Copeland Jr., abolitionist
- Patrisse Cullors, civil rights activist, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement[12][13][14]
- Elijah Cummings, civil rights advocate
D
- Angela Davis, civil rights activist, academic, and author[15]
- Ossie Davis, civil rights activist
- William L. Dawson, civil rights activist, politician
- Ruby Dee, civil rights activist
- Doris Derby, civil rights activist, photographer
- Charles Diggs, civil rights activist[16]
- Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, black rights activist, women's rights activist, organizer[17] – February 20, 1895[18]
- W. E. B. Du Bois, activist, writer, founder of NAACP
E
- Marian Wright Edelman, civil rights activist
- Soffiyah Eliijah, activist for prisoner rights
- Ruth Ellis, LGBT rights activist
- Keith Ellison, politician
- Theresa El-Amin, civil rights activist and union organizer[19]
- Charles Evers, civil rights activist
- Medgar Evers, civil rights activist
- Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights activist
F
- David Fagen, civil rights and labor activist[20]
- James L. Farmer Jr., civil rights activist
- Walter E. Fauntroy, civil rights activist
- Sarah Mae Flemming, civil rights activist
- James Forman, civil rights activist
- Aretha Franklin, civil rights activist
- C. L. Franklin, civil rights activist, minister
- Elizabeth Freeman, first former slave to win a freedom suit in Massachusetts
- Frankie Muse Freeman, civil rights activist, attorney
G
- Erica Garner, civil rights and Black Lives Matter activist[21]
- Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement
- Ernest Green, civil rights activist, part of the Little Rock Nine
- Fred Gray, civil rights lawyer
- Shields Green, abolitionist
- Dick Gregory, civil rights activist
- Vicki Garvin, civil rights activist
H
- Vincent Harding, civil rights activist, historian
- Craig G. Harris, HIV/AIDS and LGBT activist, writer, poet
- Curtis W. Harris, civil rights activist, minister, politician
- Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist
- Fred Hampton, civil rights activist
- Lorraine Hansberry, civil rights activist, playwright, author
- Frances Harper, abolitionist and women's rights activist
- Robert Hayling, civil rights activist, dentist
- Lola Hendricks, civil rights activist, secretary
- Aaron Henry, civil rights activist, politician
- Dorothy Height, educator and civil rights activist
- Benjamin Hooks, civil rights activist, minister, attorney
- Lena Horne, civil rights activist
- Elbert Howard, civil rights activist
- T. R. M. Howard, civil rights leader, entrepreneur, surgeon
- Langston Hughes, civil rights activist, poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist
- Bobby Hutton, civil rights activist
- Nipsey Hussle, community activist
I
- Rizza Islam, civil rights activist, member of the Nation of Islam
J
- George Jackson, civil rights activist, author
- Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist
- Jimmie Lee Jackson, civil rights activist
- Mahalia Jackson, civil rights activist
- Marsha P. Johnson, civil rights activist
- Richie Jean Jackson, civil rights activist, author, teacher
- T. J. Jemison, civil rights activist, minister
- James Weldon Johnson, writer of Black National Anthem
- Alberta Odell Jones, civil rights lawyer
- Clarence B. Jones, civil rights activist
- Quincy Jones, civil rights activist
- Barbara Jordan, civil rights activist
- Vernon Jordan, civil rights activist
K
- Colin Kaepernick, BLM activist, former football player
- Sarah Louise Keys, civil rights activist
- Nupol Kiazolu, civil rights and homelessness activist
- A. D. King, civil rights activist
- Alveda King, civil rights activist, author, politician
- Bernice King, civil rights activist, minister
- Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist
- Dexter King, civil rights activist
- Martin Luther King III, civil rights activist
- Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader and pastor
- Martin Luther King Sr., civil rights leader, pastor and missionary
- Alberta Williams King, civil rights activist
- Yolanda King, civil rights activist
- Eartha Kitt, civil rights activist
L
- Bernard Lafayette, civil rights activist, organizer
- Sarah Willie Layton, suffragist, civil rights activist
- James Lawson, civil rights activist, professor
- John Lewis, congressman, Nashville Student Movement, organizer
- Audre Lorde, civil rights activist, feminist, poet, author
- Joseph Lowery, civil rights activist and minister
- Julius Lester, civil rights activist, author, professor
- Conrad Lynn, civil rights activist, lawyer
M
- Thurgood Marshall, civil rights activist, lawyer, judge
- Benjamin Mays, civil rights activist, minister
- Franklin McCain, civil rights activist
- DeRay Mckesson, civil rights activist, podcaster
- Floyd McKissick, civil rights activist, lawyer
- John Berry Meachum, civil rights activist, educatior, religious leader, involved in the Underground Railroad[22]
- James Meredith, civil rights figure, writer, political adviser
- Anne Moody, civil rights activist, author
- Harry T. Moore, civil rights activist, educator
- Harriette Moore, civil rights worker, educator
- Amzie Moore, civil rights leader, entrepreneur
- Irene Morgan, anti-segregation activist
- Bob Moses, civil rights activist, educator
- Elijah Muhammad, civil rights leader
- Khalid Abdul Muhammad, black nationalist leader, minister
- Pauli Murray, civil rights activist, lawyer, author, priest
N
- Diane Nash, civil rights activist
- Dangerfield Newby, abolitionist
- Huey P. Newton, civil rights activist
- Bree Newsome, activist, filmmaker
- Denise Nicholas, civil rights activist
- Nellie B. Nicholson, suffragist
- E. D. Nixon, civil rights activist, NCAAP official
O
- James Orange, civil rights activist
- Sarah Massey Overton, women's rights activist
P
- Rosa Parks, activist, NCAAP official, Montgomery Bus Boycott inspiration[23]
- Lucy Parsons, activist, labor organizer
- James Peck, civil rights activist
- William Pleasant, Jr., civil rights activist
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr., civil rights activist, pastor
- Gloria Johnson-Powell, civil rights activist
- Elizabeth Piper Ensley, educator and suffragist
- Jewel Prestage, activist, political scientist
R
- Lincoln Ragsdale, civil rights activist, aviator
- A. Philip Randolph, civil rights activist
- Emma J. Ray, civil rights and social activist, suffragist
- George Raymond, civil rights activist
- George Raymond Jr., civil rights activist
- Frederick D. Reese, civil rights activist, educator, minister
- Gloria Richardson, civil rights activist
- David Richmond, civil rights activist
- Paul Robeson, civil rights activist
- Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights activist
- Jackie Robinson, civil rights activist
- Jo Ann Robinson, civil rights activist
- Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist
- Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, civil rights activist
S
- Bobby Seale, political activist and author
- Cleveland Sellers, civil rights activist, educator
- Betty Shabazz, civil rights activist
- Al Sharpton, civil rights activist, minister
- Mary Ann Shadd, anti-slavery activist, journalist, lawyer
- Al Sharpton, civil rights and social justice activist
- Charles Sherrod, civil rights activist, minister
- Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights activist
- Mary Louise Smith, civil rights activist
- Nina Simone, civil rights activist
- Mavis Staples, civil rights activist
- Marion Stamps, civil rights and housing rights activist
- Charles Kenzie Steele, civil rights activist
- Charles Steele Jr., civil rights activist, politician
- Bryan Stevenson, criminal justice reform activist
- Tupac Amaru Shakur, black America activist, iniquity
T
- Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and suffragist
- Harriet Tubman, abolitionist and humanitarian
- Samuel Wilbert Tucker, civil rights activist, lawyer
V
- C. T. Vivian, civil rights activist, author, minister
W
- Madam C. J. Walker, political and social activist, entrepreneur, philanthropist
- Wyatt Tee Walker, pastor, civil rights leader
- Booker T. Washington, educator, founder of Tuskegee University[24]
- Ida B. Wells, civil rights activist, co-founder of the NAACP
- Cornel West, civil rights activist, philosopher, author, minister
- Roy Wilkins, civil rights activist
- Hosea Williams, civil rights activist, minister, businessman, philanthropist, scientist, politician
- Robert F. Williams, civil rights leader, author
- Bobby E. Wright, political activist, psychologist, scholar
X
- Malcolm X, human rights activist, minister
Y
- Andrew Young, politician, diplomat, and activist
- Whitney Young, civil rights activist
- Sammy Younge Jr., civil rights activist
References
- ^ Evan F. Moore "In honor of Black History Month, here's a list of Chicagoans you should know", Chicago Sun-Times, February 1, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
- ^ Kleinig, John, Handled with Discretion: Ethical Issues in Police Decision Making, Rowman & Littlefield (1996), p. 157, ISBN 9780847681778. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
- ^ Bio of "Ralph David Abernathy", Frye Gaillard, University of South Alabama, March 14, 2007, (archive)
- ^ Smith, Jessie Carney; Phelps, Shirelle, Notable Black American Women, Book 2, VNR AG (1996), p. 11, ISBN 9780810391772.
- ^ Henneberg, Susan. James Baldwin: Groundbreaking Author and Civil Rights Activist, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc (2014), pp. 6–8, 66, ISBN 9781477778975.
- ^ Schwartz, Barry (June 2009). "Collective Forgetting and the Symbolic Power of Oneness: The Strange Apotheosis of Rosa Parks". Social Psychology Quarterly. 72 (2): 123–142. doi:10.1177/019027250907200204. JSTOR 25593914. S2CID 3450932.
- ^ "Nannie Helen Burroughs papers, 1900–1963 (Library of Congress), Biographical Note (Woman's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America)". Hdl.loc.gov. 2001. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
- ^ Dickerson, Dennis C., "The Wesleyan Witness in the US Civil Rights Movement: The Allen Legacy against 20th Century American Apartheid", 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
- ^ Carter, Christine Michel (2019-04-19). "How I Got My Employer to Acknowledge My Nursing Issue". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
- ^ "Claudette Colvin Biography, Activist, Civil Rights Activist, Medical Professional (1939–)", Biography.com, A&E Television Networks, April 1, 2014.
- ^ Foundations of African-American Sociology Archived 2017-03-06 at the Wayback Machine. Hampton University Department of Sociology. Hampton University. Retrieved 7 March 2017. From Melvin Barber; Leslie Innis; Emmit Hunt, African American Contributions to Sociology.
- ^ Goldhill, Olivia (November 15, 2016). "'We can feel sad, hurt, demoralized. But we can't give up': A Black Lives Matter founder on Trump's presidency". Quartz.
- ^ Garza, Alicia, "Herstory". Black Lives Matter. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
- ^ Queerness on the front lines of #BlackLivesMatter. MSNBC. February 19, 2015 (video).
- ^ "Angela Davis". CCCB. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
- ^ Haskins, James, Distinguished African American Political and Governmental Leaders. Oryx Press (1999), p. 67. ISBN 9781573561266,
- ^ "Frederick Douglass Biography : Journalist, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Government Official (c. 1818–1895)". Biography.com.
- ^ "Later Years and Death", Frederick Douglass Heritage. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
- ^ "SNCC passes the torch | The CLog". Creative Loafing Charlotte. February 29, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
- ^ Rafael, Vicente (11 February 2007). "David Fagen (1875–?)". Black Past.
- ^ Wang, Vivian (December 30, 2017), "Erica Garner, Activist and Daughter of Eric Garner, Dies at 27", The New York Times
- ^ Shipley, Alberta D.; Shipley, David O. (1976). The History of Black Baptists in Missouri. Missionary Baptist State Convention of Missouri. pp. 24–25, 227.
- ^ "Rosa Parks". www.history.com. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
- ^ "Booker T. Washington". www.history.com. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
Learn more
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia’s quality standards. The specific problem is: Notes and references incomplete in most tables. (February 2021)
|
This is a list of African-American activists[1] covering various areas of activism, but primarily focus on those African Americans who historically and currently have been fighting racism and racial injustice against African Americans. The United States of America has a long history of racism against its Black citizens.[2] The names detailed below contains only notable African Americans who are known to be activist (sorted by surname).
AEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Ralph Abernathy | Civil rights movement | Ralph David Abernathy (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, and close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr.[3] |
Naomi Anderson | Gender (mainly women) and racial equality | Born: Naomi Bowman Talbert Anderson (March 1, 1843 – ?). Black suffragist and poet.[4] |
Theresa El-Amin | Civil rights activist | Union organizer and former member of the Green Party of the United States Steering Committee.[5] |
Nipsey Hussle | Community activism |
BEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
James Baldwin | Race and LGBT equality. | Born James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987). Also novelist and playwright. Baldwin was an inclusionist, not a separatist during the Civil Rights Movement.[6] |
James Bevel | Civil rights movement | Strategist for SNCC and SCLC, initiated and directed the Birmingham Children’s Crusade, Selma to Montgomery marches, Chicago Open Housing Movement, and other events. |
Lillie Mae Bradford | Civil rights | Four years prior to Rosa Parks‘s refusal to give up her seat to a white man, Bradford (October 1, 1928 – March 14, 2017) was charged the wrong bus fare and racially insulted by a bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama to which she protested by sitting at the front of the bus reserved only for white people in accordance with racist American laws against its Black citizens. She was arrested and charged for disorderly conduct. |
Aurelia Browder | Civil rights | Also known as Aurelia Shines Browder Coleman (January 29, 1919 – February 4, 1971). Almost eight months prior to the Rosa Parks incident, Browder was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person.[7] |
Nannie Helen Burroughs | Civil rights and feminist | Burroughs (May 2, 1879 – May 20, 1961) was also an educator, orator, religious leader and businesswoman.[8] |
CEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Archibald J. Carey, Jr | Civil Rights Movement | Archibald James Carey Jr. (February 29, 1908 – April 20, 1981) was a lawyer, judge, politician, diplomat and clergyman. Confidante of Martin Luther King Jr., Carey was also active in the national Civil Rights Movement and worked to end employment discrimination in the U.S. government against Black Americans.[9] |
Eldridge Cleaver | Civil Rights Movement | Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was a leader of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s. |
Claudette Colvin | Civil Rights Movement | Claudette Colvin (September 5, 1939)[10] is an American nurse and one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement. Colvin was arrested on March 2, 1955, at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded racially segregated bus.[11] Colvin was also an NAACP Youth Council member in her student days.[12] |
Anna Julia Cooper | Black feminist and civil rights | Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (August 10, 1858 – February 27, 1964) was an author, educator, sociologist, prominent African-American scholar, and “sometimes called the mother of Black Feminism.”[13] |
John Anthony Copeland Jr. | John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry | Executed by hanging in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), December 16, 1859. |
Patrisse Cullors | Black Lives Matter and LGBT | Born in 1984, Cullors is an artist and activist, and an advocate for prison abolition in Los Angeles. She is a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement.[14][15][16] |
DEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Angela Davis | Communism and feminism | Briefly involved in the Black Panther Party during the Civil Rights Movement.[17] |
William L. Dawson | Civil Rights Movement | William Levi Dawson (April 26, 1886 – November 9, 1970) was a politician; an active participant during the civil rights movement; and a sponsor of registration drives. |
Charles Diggs | Civil Rights Movement | Charles Coles Diggs Jr. (December 2, 1922 – August 24, 1998[18]) was an early member of the civil rights movement. |
Frederick Douglass | Abolitionist | Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey; c. February 1818[19] – February 20, 1895[20] was a social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. |
W. E. B. Du Bois | Writer on African-American topics, a founder of NAACP | William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963). |
EEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Soffiyah Eliijah | Prisoner rights | |
Ruth Ellis | LGBT rights | |
Keith Ellison | ||
Elizabeth Piper Ensley | Women’s suffrage | |
Charles Evers | ||
Medgar Evers | Civil Rights | |
Myrlie Evers-Williams | Civil Rights |
FEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
David Fagen | Anti-imperialism | David Fagen was the son of former slaves, born in 1878 in Tampa.[21] As a teenager, Fagen became involved in labour strikes but joined the army in 1898. After combat in Cuba, he was deployed to Manila to fight in the Philippine-American War (1899–1902). No longer able to conduct himself as an instrument of white racism or American imperialism he joined the Philippine Liberation Army where he was promoted to captain and given his own command. Fagen achieved legendary status as a fighter and became a hero not just to the Philippines but to all those who oppose American imperialism and racism.[22] |
GEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Erica Garner | Black Lives Matter.[23] | Daughter of Eric Garner, founder of the Garner Way Foundation, a foundation named in honour of her father[24][25] |
Alicia Garza | Black Lives Matter | Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement |
Ernest Green | Civil rights movement | Part of the Little Rock Nine, and became the first African-American to graduate from Little Rock Central high School in 1958. |
Shields Green | John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry | Executed by hanging in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), December 16, 1859. |
HEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Fannie Lou Hamer | voting rights and women’s rights; civil rights movement | |
Fred Hampton | ||
Frances Harper | Abolitionist; women’s rights | |
Aaron Henry | Civil rights movement | |
T. R. M. Howard | Civil rights movement | |
Langston Hughes | Civil rights, Communism |
IEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Rizza Islam | Political rights, Nation of Islam |
JEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Jesse Jackson | Civil rights movement | |
Alberta Odell Jones | Civil rights movement | Attorney |
Quincy Jones | Civil Rights | |
Marsha P. Johnson | Civil rights |
KEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Colin Kaepernick | Black Lives Matter | |
Sarah Louise Keys | Civil rights | |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Civil rights |
LEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Audre Lorde | Poet, author, civil rights, feminist |
MEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
DeRay Mckesson | ||
John Berry Meachum | Religion, education, vocational training, Underground Railroad | [26] |
Irene Morgan | ||
Amzie Moore |
NEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Diane Nash | Civil rights movement | |
Dangerfield Newby | John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry | Dangerfield Newby (1815 – October 17, 1859), born into slavery |
Bree Newsome | ||
Huey P. Newton |
OEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Sarah Massey Overton | Women’s rights |
PEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Rosa Parks | Civil Rights Movement | |
Lucy Parsons | ||
Jewel Prestage |
REdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Emma J. Ray | Suffrage Movement | Social and racial justice |
SEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Bobby Seale | ||
Mary Ann Shadd Cary | ||
Al Sharpton | ||
Nina Simone | ||
Mary Louise Smith | ||
Marion Stamps | ||
Bryan Stevenson | Criminal justice reform |
TEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Sojourner Truth | Abolitionist; women’s suffrage | |
Harriet Tubman | Abolitionist; women’s suffrage |
VEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Vicki Garvin | Human rights activist; Civil rights movement |
WEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Madam C. J. Walker | ||
Booker T. Washington | Writer, community leader, founder of Tuskegee Institute | Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915). Born into slavery. |
Ida B. Wells | Civil rights movement; suffragist | One of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People |
Cornel West | ||
Roy Wilkins | Civil rights movement | |
Bobby E. Wright | Pan-Africanism |
XEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Malcolm X | Human rights activist; Civil rights movement |
YEdit
Name | Area of activism | Notes and references |
---|---|---|
Andrew Young | Civil rights movement |
References