Famous Black Activists a to z

Considered one of the best baseball players of all time, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record when he hit his 715th home run in 1974, before setting a new Major League Record with 755 home runs in the same year.

Ralph D. Abernathy was a Baptist minister who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was a close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.

Born into slavery in 1760, Richard Allen bought his freedom at age 17 and went on to found the first national black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1816.

Arthur Ashe is the first African American to win the men's singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and the first black American to be ranked No. 1 in the world.

Civil rights activist Ella Baker worked with the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Josephine Baker was a dancer and singer who became wildly popular in France during the 1920s. She also devoted much of her life to fighting racism.

Civil rights activist Marion S. Barry Jr. has served four terms as mayor of D.C., with his career surviving numerous scandals.

Daisy Bates was an African American civil rights activist and newspaper publisher who documented the battle to end segregation in Arkansas.

Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator and activist, serving as president of the National Association of Colored Women and founding the National Council of Negro Women.

Mum Betts (Elizabeth Freeman) was the first slave to successfully sue for her freedom, encouraging Massachusetts to abolish slavery.

Steve Biko spearheaded the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. He died in 1977, from injuries sustained while in police custody.

Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend an all-white public elementary school in the American South.

James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul," was a prolific singer, songwriter and bandleader, as well as one of the most iconic figures in funk and soul music from 1956 to 2006.

Jim Brown is a record-holding, former NFL fullback who's been elected to his sport's Hall of Fame and who's also worked as a model and film actor.

Linda Brown was the child associated with the lead name in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, which led to the outlawing of U.S. school segregation in 1954.

An advocate of children and families in Harlem, NY, Geoffrey Canada is president of the Harlem Children’s Zone. In 2009, President Barack Obama announced plans to replicate the educational center in 20 cities.

Stokely Carmichael was a Trinidadian-American political activist, best known as the leader of the civil rights group SNCC in the 1960s.

Psychologist and educator Kenneth Bancroft Clark was the first black president of the American Psychological Association.

Septima Poinsette Clark was a pioneering educator and activist who championed teacher’s rights with organizations like the NAACP.

Teacher Marva Collins was one of the most influential education activists of the 20th century, working to gain equal access for minorities to quality education.

Claudette Colvin was a civil rights activist in Alabama during the 1950s. She refused to give up her seat on a bus months before Rosa Parks' more famous protest.

Angela Davis is an activist, scholar and writer who advocates for the oppressed. She has authored several books, including Women, Culture & Politics.

Ossie Davis was an American actor, writer, social activist and humanitarian. He often performed with wife Ruby Dee in plays, in film and on television.

In 1996, Dominique Dawes won Olympic gold with the U.S. women's gymnastics team as well as an individual bronze medal—becoming the first African American to win an individual Olympic medal in women's gymnastics.

Ruby Dee is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, activist, poet and journalist, perhaps best known for starring in the 1961 film A Raisin in the Sun. She's also known for her civic work with husband Ossie Davis.

Abolitionist Martin Robison Delany was both a physician and newspaper editor, and became one of the most influential and successful anti-slavery activists of the 19th century.

Frederick Douglass, a former slave and eminent human rights leader in the abolition movement, was the first black citizen to hold a high U.S. government rank.

American football wide receiver Donald Driver, drafted by the Greenbay Packers in 1999, won the 14th season of Dancing with the Stars in May 2012.

W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most important African-American activists during the first half of the 20th century. He co-founded the NAACP and supported Pan-Africanism.

Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist who organized voter-registration efforts, demonstrations and boycotts of companies that practiced discrimination.

Author and activist Myrlie Evers-Williams was the wife of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and served as chair of the NAACP 1995–1998.

Louis Farrakhan has led the Nation of Islam, an African American movement that combined elements of Islam with black nationalism since 1978.

Father Divine was a prominent African-American religious leader of the 1930s who founded the Peace Mission, an important precursor of the Civil Rights Movement.

James Forten was an African-American businessman and black leader in pre-Civil War Philadelphia.

Henry Highland Garnet was an African-American best known as an abolitionist whose “Call to Rebellion” speech encouraged slaves to rebel against their owners.

The poems of Nikki Giovanni helped to define the African-American voice of the 1960s, '70s and beyond. She was also a major force in the Black Arts movement.

Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights activists who helped African Americans register to vote and who cofounded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

Dorothy Height was a civil rights and women's rights activist focused primarily on improving the circumstances of and opportunities for African-American women.

Escaped slave and minister Josiah Henson became involved in the Underground Railroad, leading slaves to freedom and developed his own Afro-Canadian community.

Actress and singer Lena Horne was one of the most popular performers of her time, known for films such as The Wiz and her trademark song, "Stormy Weather."

Charles H. Houston was an attorney and vice-dean who worked in important civil rights cases, ultimately helping to end Jim Crow laws.

American professional basketball player Dwight Howard began playing with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012. Prior to that, he was a star with the Orlando Magic.

Anthropologist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston was a fixture of the Harlem Renaissance before writing her masterwork, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Roy Innis is an American Civil Rights Activist best known as the former National Chairman of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Jesse Jackson is an American civil rights leader, Baptist minister and politician who twice ran for U.S. president.

20th century recording artist Mahalia Jackson, known as the Queen of Gospel, is revered as one of the greatest musical figures in U.S. history.

In 1951, Barbara Johns led her fellow students in a walkout to protest school segregation. She then started a lawsuit that became part of Brown v. Board of Ed.

James Weldon Johnson was an African-American writer, politician, educator and lawyer. He was also an early civil rights activist and leader of the NAACP.

Quincy Jones is best known as a composer and record producer for legendary musicians such as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Celene Dion and Aretha Franklin.

Barbara Jordan was a U.S. congressional representative from Texas and was the first African American congresswoman to come from the Deep South.

June Jordan was an African American author who investigated both social and personal concerns through poetry, essays, and drama.

African-American chemist Percy Julian was a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs such as cortisone, steroids and birth control pills.

Coretta Scott King was an American civil rights activist and the wife of 1960s civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.

Civil rights leader, social activist and minister Joseph Lowery has fought against prejudice and discrimination against African-Americans for more than 50 years.

Mary Mahoney became the first black woman to complete nurse's training in 1879.

Thurgood Marshall was instrumental in ending legal segregation and became the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court.

Lesra Martin is a writer, lawyer and motivational speaker known for his efforts to free wrongly accused Rubin Carter.

Claude McKay was a Jamaican-born poet and novelist whose Home to Harlem (1928) was the most popular novel written by an American black to that time.

James Meredith is a civil rights activist who became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962.

Kweisi Mfume is the former President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Anne Moody is an African-American author whose writings about her personal and political struggles during the American Civil Rights Movement became classic.

Constance Baker Motley was a legal advocate in the Civil Rights Movement. She became the first female African-American federal judge in 1966.

Reverend Pauli Murray was an American civil rights advocate and ordained priest. She is best known for furthering the civil rights and feminist causes.

Huey P. Newton was an African-American activist best known for founding the militant Black Panther Party in 1966, along with co-founder Bobby Seale.

Civil rights activist and ACLU alum Eleanor Holmes Norton serves as a non-voting delegate to Congress from the District of Columbia.

Homer Plessy is best known as the plaintiff in Plessy v. Ferguson, a landmark court case challenging southern-based segregation.

Janie Porter Barrett was a social worker and reformer who established a school for previously incarcerated African-American girls.

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was a 20th century clergyman and U.S. representative who was a major force in establishing civil rights for African Americans.

The daughter of comedian Richard Pryor, Rain Pryor is a multifaceted actress, singer, comedian and artistic director.

A. Philip Randolph was a labor leader and social activist who fought for the rights of African-American laborers, including better wages and working conditions.

Congressman Charles Rangel has served New York's Harlem district since 1971. He was censured by his peers for ethics violations in 2010.

James T. Rapier served in Congress as a U.S. Representative from Alabama. He was one of only three black congressmen during Reconstruction and helped to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

Charlotte E. Ray was the first female African-American lawyer in the United States.

Faith Ringgold is an American artist and author who became famous for innovative, quilted narrations like Tar Beach that communicate her political beliefs.

Paul Robeson was an acclaimed 20th century performer known for productions like The Emperor Jones and Othello. He was also an international activist.

Dennis Rodman is considered one of professional basketball's all-time great rebounders. He helped lead the Detroit Pistons and later the Chicago Bulls to multiple titles.