Walter Reuther Department of Labor Hall of Honor

Civil rights leaders are influential figures in the promotion and implementation of

political freedom Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and F ...

and the expansion of personal

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties ma ...

and

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory ...

. They work to protect individuals and groups from

political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...

and

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of Racial discrimination, r ...

by governments and private organizations, and seek to ensure the ability of all members of society to participate in the civil and political life of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

. Richard C. Boone, Civil Rights, Chaplain Major U S Army

List

People who motivated themselves and then led others to gain and protect these rights and liberties include: , - , data-sort-value="Lewis, John" ,

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

, , 1940 , , 2020 , , , ,

Nashville Student Movement The Nashville Student Movement was an organization that challenged racial segregation in Nashville, Tennessee during the Civil Rights Movement. It was created during workshops in nonviolence taught by James Lawson. The students from this or ...

and SNCC activist, organizer, speaker, congressman , - , data-sort-value="Carmichael, Stokely" ,

Stokely Carmichael Kwame Ture (; born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael; June 29, 1941November 15, 1998) was a prominent organizer in the civil rights movement in the United States and the global pan-African movement. Born in Trinidad, he grew up in the Unite ...

, , 1941 , , 1998 , , , , SNCC and

Black Panther A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been ...

activist, organizer, speaker , - , data-sort-value="Jackson, Jesse" ,

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senato ...

, , 1941 , , , , , , civil rights activist, politician , - , data-sort-value="Orange, James" ,

James Orange James Edward Orange (October 29, 1942February 16, 2008), also known as "Shackdaddy", was a leading civil rights activist in the Civil Rights Movement in America. He was assistant to Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement. Orange join ...

, , 1942 , , 2008 , , , , SCLC activist and organizer, a voting rights movement leader, trade unionist , - , data-sort-value="Fleischer, Gerd" ,

Gerd Fleischer Gerd Fleischer (born 17 September 1942) is a Norwegian human rights defender. Her activism stems from her experience as a war child, with a Norwegian-Sami mother and a German father. Fleischer is the leader of ''Selvhjelp for innvandrere og flyktn ...

, , 1942 , , , , , , human rights activist , - , data-sort-value="Tosh, Peter" ,

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963 ...

, , 1944 , , 1987 , , , ,

Marijuana legalization The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...

activist, promoter of the rights of Africans within Africa as well as Black people across the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

musician. , - , data-sort-value="Johnson, Marsha P." ,

Marsha P. Johnson Marsha P. Johnson (August 24, 1945 – July 6, 1992) also known as Malcolm Michaels Jr., was an American gay liberation''I've been involved in gay liberation ever since it first started in 1969'', 15:20 into the interview, Johnson is quoted as ...

, , 1945 , , 1992 , , , ,

Gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii ...

activist,

STAR A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

co-founder,

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

activist with

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy ...

, - ,

Heather Booth Heather Booth (born December 15, 1945) is an American civil rights activist, feminist, and political strategist who has been involved in activism for progressive causes. During her student years, she was active in both the civil rights movement ...

, 1945 , , , SNCC activist, women's movement organizer, and founder of the Midwest Academy , - , data-sort-value="Atyam, Angelina" , Angelina Atyam , , 1946 , , , , , , human rights activist for the Aboke abductions , - , data-sort-value="Beal, Dana" ,

Dana Beal Irvin Dana Beal (born January 9, 1947 in Ravenna, Ohio) is an American social and political activist, best known for his efforts to legalize marijuana and to promote the benefits of Ibogaine as an addiction treatment. He is a founder and long-te ...

, , 1947 , , , , , , pro-hemp activist, organizer, speaker, initiator , - , data-sort-value="Row Kavi, Ashok" ,

Ashok Row Kavi Ashok Row Kavi is an Indian journalist and LGBT rights activist. Life He was born in Mumbai on 1 June 1947. He graduated with honours in Chemistry from the University of Bombay. Later, he dropped out of engineering college. Due to his ea ...

, , 1947 , , , , , , LGBT rights activist, gay rights pioneer, founder of

Humsafar Trust Humsafar Trust ( meaning 'companion' in Hindustani: hi, हमसफ़र, ur, ہمسفر) is an NGO in Mumbai which promotes LGBT rights. Founded by Ashok Row Kavi, Suhail Abbasi, and Sridhar Rangayan in 1994, it is one of the largest and ...

, - , data-sort-value="Chavis, Benjamin" ,

Benjamin Chavis Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. (born January 22, 1948) in Oxford, North Carolina is an African-American civil rights leader and icon, United Church of Christ (UCC) ordained minister, author, journalist, organic chemist, environmentalist, global ...

, , 1948 , , , , , , activist, chemist, minister, author, leader of

Wilmington Ten The Wilmington Ten were nine young men and a woman who were wrongfully convicted in 1971 in Wilmington, North Carolina, of arson and conspiracy. Most were sentenced to 29 years in prison, and all ten served nearly a decade in jail before an appea ...

, led Commission for Racial Justice of the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...

, campaigned against

environmental racism Environmental racism or ecological apartheid is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionally placed in communities of colour. Internationally, it is also associated with ...

, executive director of NAACP, national director of

Million Man March The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leadin ...

, - , data-sort-value="Hampton, Fred" ,

Fred Hampton Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an American activist. He came to prominence in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and chair of the Illinois chapter. As a progressive African Ame ...

, , 1948 , , 1969 , , , , NAACP youth leader and Black Panther activist, organizer, speaker , - , Richard C Boone , 1937 , , , Civil Rights activist SCLC, Chaplain, Major US Army , - , data-sort-value="Rivera, Sylvia" ,

Sylvia Rivera Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender activism, transgender rights activist September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. who was also a noted community worker in LGBT history in New Yor ...

, , 1951 , , 2002 , , , ,

and

transgender rights A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is inconsistent or not culturally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to esta ...

activist,

house co-founder , - , data-sort-value="Prakash, Cedric" , Cedric Prakash , , 1951 , , , , , , Jesuit Priest, Human Rights Activist, Organizer, Journalist, and Speaker , - , data-sort-value="Shepard, Judy" ,

Judy Shepard Judy Shepard (née Peck; born August 15, 1952) is the mother of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at University of Wyoming who was murdered in October 1998 in what became one of the most high-profiled cases highlighting hate-crimes against ...

, , 1952 , , , , , , gay rights activist, public speaker , - , data-sort-value="Cameron, Barbara May" ,

Barbara May Cameron Barbara May Cameron (May 22, 1954 – February 12, 2002) was a Native American photographer, poet, writer, and human rights activist in the fields of lesbian/gay rights, women's rights, and Native American rights. Early life Barbara May Cameron ...

, , 1954 , , 2002 , , , , advocate for the rights of Native Americans, lesbians, and women , - , data-sort-value="Sands, Bobby" ,

Bobby Sands Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...

, , 1954 , , 1981 , , , , hunger striker for better conditions for Irish prisoners in British prisons , - , data-sort-value="Sharpton, Al" ,

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrati ...

, , 1954 , , , , , , clergyman, activist, media , - , data-sort-value="Roscoe, Will" ,

Will Roscoe Will Roscoe (February 8, 1955) is an American activist, scholar, and author based in San Francisco, California. Early life Will Roscoe was born on February 8, 1955. He grew up in Missoula, Montana. Gay activism Roscoe helped found the Lambda Alli ...

, , 1955 , , , , , , gay rights activist , - , data-sort-value="Menchú, Rigoberta" ,

Rigoberta Menchú Rigoberta Menchú Tum (; born 9 January 1959) is a K'iche' Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's Indigenous peoples during and after ...

, , 1959 , , , , , ,

indigenous rights Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...

leader, co-founder of

Nobel Women's Initiative The Nobel Women's Initiative is an international advocacy organisation based in Ottawa, Canada. It was created in 2006 by six female winners of the Nobel Peace Prize to support women's groups around the world in campaigning for justice, peace and ...

, - , data-sort-value="Nibizi, Eulalie" , Eulalie Nibizi , , 1960 , , , , , , Human rights activist, trade unionist , - , data-sort-value="Goldstein, Steven" , Steven Goldstein , , 1962 , , , , , , gay rights advocate, political activist , - , data-sort-value="Chee Soon Juan" ,

Chee Soon Juan Chee Soon Juan is a Singaporean politician, activist and former lecturer who has been serving as Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party since 1993. Prior to entering politics in 1992, upon Chiam See Tong's invitation to join the ...

, , 1962 , , , , , , politician, former political prisoner, democracy and human rights activist , - , data-sort-value="Pradhan, Manasi" ,

Manasi Pradhan Manasi Pradhan (born 4 October 1962) is an Indian women's rights activist and author. She is the founder of Honour for Women National Campaign, a nationwide movement to end violence against women in India. In 2014, she was conferred with Rani L ...

, , 1962 , , , , , , women's rights activist, founder of Honour for Women National Campaign , - , data-sort-value="Narmadji, Céline" , Céline Narmadji , , 1964 , , , , , , human and women's rights activist, active in improving conditions for the local population , - , data-sort-value="Parker, Deborah" ,

Deborah Parker Deborah Parker (born 1970), also known by her native name cicayalc̓aʔ (sometimes spelled Tsi-Cy-Altsa or tsicyaltsa), is an activist and indigenous leader in the United States. A member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, she served as its v ...

, , 1970 , , , , , ,

Indigenous rights Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countri ...

activist who was critical in ensuring the passage of the

Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law (Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, ) signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward inves ...

, - , Gloria Casarez , 1971 , 2014 , , Latina lesbian

civil rights leader Civil rights leaders are influential figures in the promotion and implementation of political freedom and the expansion of personal civil liberties and civil rights, rights. They work to protect individuals and groups from polit ...

and LGBT activist in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, - , data-sort-value="Iyer, Harish" , Harish Iyer , , 1979 , , , , , , gender and sexuality rights activist, campaigner against child sexual abuse and for animal rights , - , data-sort-value="Cudic, Edvin Kanka" , Edvin Kanka Ćudić , , 1988 , , , , , , human rights activist, founder and coordinator of UDIK in Bosnia and Herzegovina , - , data-sort-value="Yousafzai, Malala" ,

Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second P ...

, , 1997 , , , , , , advocate for education for girls, 2014

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

laureate

References

See each individual for their references.

External links

BlackHistoryDaily.com – Activists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Civil rights leaders Lists of social activists * *

List

See also

References

External links