The Big Six— Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young—were the leaders of six prominent civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. In his autobiography, '' Lay Bare the Heart'' (1985), James Farmer identified the term "Big Six" as having originated with the founding of the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership. He did not include A. Philip Randolph in his list of the "Big Six", instead listing Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women as the sixth member of the group. He also noted that the press often referred to the group as the "Big Four", excluding Height and John Lewis, which he attributed to sexism and age bias, respectively. Patrick Henry Bass, journalist and historian of the March on Washington, described the rise of these leaders to celebrity: "Increasingly, these six powerful men lived in two worlds: the political and the personal, one white, in which they were still strangers but becoming increasingly familiar with its insider/outsider rules; the other, black, where they were treated as extended members of the family." About two months before the march, the Big Six broadened their organizing coalition by bringing on board four men who were not Black, but supported their efforts: Walter Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers; Eugene Carson Blake, former president of the National Council of Churches; Mathew Ahmann, executive director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice; and Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress. Together, the Big Six plus the four newcomers became known as the "Big Ten".

Big Six

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968), chairman of the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., ...

(SCLC), was a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

minister, activist, and the most well-known leader and spokesperson of the Civil Rights Movement. King won the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

in 1964 and he posthumously was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...

in 1977, nine years after his assassination in 1968. For his promotion of

nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

and racial equality, King is considered a peacemaker and martyr by many people around the world. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States was established in his honor, and a memorial to him stands on the nation's National Mall.

James Farmer

James Farmer (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942, a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

organization dedicated to achieving racial harmony and equality through nonviolent protest and passive resistance, and was chosen to be its first national director in 1953. When Farmer's followers once asked, "When are you going to fight back?" Farmer's response was, "We are fighting back, we're only using new weapons." Farmer's teachings allowed sit-ins and the Freedom Rides to occur, attempts to battle segregation in restaurants and on transportation. These attempts allowed CORE to gain national traction, as people throughout the country were inspired to be volunteers for the organization to advocate for civil rights. Farmer later considered this surge of followers as "his proudest achievement". Farmer was not present for the 1963 March on Washington since he was incarcerated in Louisiana for "disturbing the peace" after attempts to arrange protests. He launched a failed Congressional bid in 1968 and later faced criticism for his decision to be employed by President Richard Nixon, as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a job which Farmer claimed was an opportunity for African-Americans to directly influence federal policies. He was awarded the

in 1998 for his efforts during the Civil Rights Movement, shortly before his death in 1999.

John Lewis

John Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement as president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and as a participant with other civil rights leaders such as Diane Nash, James Bevel, and Bernard Lafayette in the Nashville Student Movement (1959–1962). Lewis was one of the original 13

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the Racial segregation in the United States, segregated Southern United States, Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of t ...

. While in college, he participated in sit-ins at segregated restaurants in Nashville. These sit-ins inspired others throughout the country to initiate sit-ins to protest segregation at lunch counters. Lewis, at 23 years of age, represented SNCC with a speech at the August 28, 1963

March on Washington The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington) was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rig ...

, the youngest Big Six member to do so. Lewis represented the 5th District of Georgia, a district which includes almost all of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from 1987 until his death from pancreatic cancer at age 80, the last surviving member of the Big Six. He was a recipient of both the John F. Kennedy Library's Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2001 and the

in 2010.

A. Philip Randolph

A. Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) was a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

in the labor movement and the Civil Rights Movement. In 1925, he organized the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Founded in 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (commonly referred to as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, BSCP) was the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation o ...

. This was the first serious effort to form a

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

for the employees of the

Pullman Company The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

, which was a major employer of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Randolph was instrumental in the March on Washington Movement, which did not actually lead to a March on Washington but did result in the integration of war industries and ultimately the armed forces. He lived until 90 years old.

Roy Wilkins

Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent civil rights activist from the 1930s to the 1970s. In 1955, he was named executive director of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

(NAACP). He had an excellent reputation as a spokesperson for the Civil Rights Movement. He participated in the March on Washington (1963), the

Selma to Montgomery marches The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized by Nonviolence, nonvi ...

(1965), and the March Against Fear (1966).

Whitney Young

Whitney Young (July 31, 1921 – March 11, 1971) spent most of his career working to end

employment discrimination Employment discrimination is a form of illegal discrimination in the workplace based on legally protected characteristics. In the U.S., federal anti-discrimination law prohibits discrimination by employers against employees based on age, race, ...

in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

, and he was inspired to do so after his experience fighting in World War II and personally becoming a victim of this discrimination. In 1961, Young was elected the National Urban League's executive director, a position he held until his death in 1971. As executive director, he turned the National Urban League from a relatively passive civil rights organization into one that aggressively fought for justice, and he did so by introducing new educational policies and programs that did not estrange the white members of the league.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Six Activists for African-American civil rights American civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. John Lewis Sextets