Famous 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.

Grace Abbott is best known for her social activism on behalf of immigrants and children. She headed the Children's Bureau from 1921 to 1934.

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.

Bella Abzug was a leading liberal activist and politician in the 1960s and 1970s, especially known for her work for women’s rights.

Ansel Adams was an American photographer best known for his iconic images of the American West, including Yosemite National Park.

Joy Adamson was a conservationist who pioneered the movement to preserve African wildlife. She won renown with her books about raising the lion cub Elsa.

Jane Addams co-founded one of the first settlements in the United States, the Hull House in Chicago, Illinois, and was named a co-winner of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.

Casey Affleck is best known as an actor in films including Gone Baby Gone, and as the brother of actor Ben Affleck.

Egyptian Hassan al-Banna was the founder the Muslim Brotherhood, with goals of expelling the British from Egypt and re-establishing the Caliphate.

Ciro Alegria was a Peruvian novelist who wrote about the struggles of the Peruvian Indians, and whose militant pro-Indian activism led to his arrest and exile.

Actress Jane Alexander won Emmy Awards for her roles in Playing for Time and Warm Springs. In 1992, she became chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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.

Pamela Anderson first gained fame in the pages of Playboy and rose to international fame with her role on Baywatch. She garnered more fame in 2010, when she competed on Dancing with the Stars.

Susan B. Anthony was a prominent American civil rights activist and leader during the women's suffrage movement of the 1800s.

Actress Christina Applegate played Kelly Bundy on the popular sitcom Married... With Children. She is a breast cancer survivor and publicly promotes awareness.

Bea Arthur was an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress who starred in the television shows Maude and The Golden Girls.

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.

Ed Asner is an American actor best known as gruff-but-lovable newsman Lou Grant, who debuted on the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Julian Assange came to international attention as the founder of the whistle-blowing Web site, Wikileaks.

Brooke Astor was a philanthropist who served on the boards of many cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Michelle Bachelet was the first female president of Chile who served from 2006–2010.

Joan Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter and activist who is best known for her distinctive voice and for her role in popularizing the music of Bob Dylan.

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.

Social activist and pacifist Emily Greene Balch won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for being a lifetime advocate of the persecuted and oppressed.

American film, television and theater actor Alec Baldwin stars on the sitcom 30 Rock, for which he received Golden Globes and an Emmy Award.

Roger Baldwin was an American civil rights activist who co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union.

Brigitte Bardot is a French dancer, model and actress who became an international icon in the 1950s and '60s with films like And God Created Women and Contempt.

Bob Barker was the host of the TV game show

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

Film actress Kim Basinger won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in L.A. Confidential. She married actor Alec Baldwin in 1993.

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

Harry Belafonte has achieved lasting fame for such songs as "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)," and for his humanitarian work.

Alva Belmont was a wealthy socialite who used her fortune to advance the women's rights movement of the early 1900s.

Robert Benchley was an American humorist, drama critic and film actor who is best known for his small roles in over 40 films, including How To Sleep.

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.

Jessica Biel is a Hollywood sex symbol and actress, known for her work in the series 7th Heaven and films like The Illusionist and Total Recall.

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

Linda Blair is an Academy Award-nominated actress and animal activist known for her role as a demonically possessed girl in The Exorcist.

Tony Blair was leader of the British Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, and prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007.

The daughter of famous suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriot Stanton Blatch continued her mother's work in the women's rights movement.

Amelia Bloomer was a women's rights activist. She advocated for changes in women's fashion that would be less restrictive. "Bloomers" are named after her.

American poet and activist Robert Bly is best known for writing Iron John: A Book About Men which is credited for starting the Mythopoetic men's movement.

Chaz Bono is an Emmy-nominated media figure who, born the daughter of performers Sonny and Cher, has undergone gender reassignment

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

Model Christie Brinkley embodies the all-American look that dominated the fashion industry in the 1980s, during which she appeared on over 200 magazine covers.

Irish actor Pierce Brosnan is best known for his recurring role as British spy James Bond in the popular James Bond film series.

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.

John Brown was a 19th-century militant abolitionist known for his raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.

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.

Molly Brown was best known for her social welfare work on behalf of women and children, and for surviving the Titanic sinking.

Jackson Browne is a folk singer-songwriter who released numerous hit records in the 1970s and '80s, including Late for the Sky. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Prolific author Pearl S. Buck earned a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Good Earth. She was also the first female to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

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.

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist, environmentalist and writer who alerted the world to the environmental impact of fertilizers and pesticides.

Nick Carter from the pop group the Backstreet Boys is also known for once dating Paris Hilton, starring in a reality TV show and overcoming drug and alcohol addiction.

French jurist and lawyer René Cassin is best known for his involvement in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As Secretary of the Treasury under Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase implemented the National Banking Act and was the sixth chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Union leader and labor organizer Cesar Chavez dedicated his life to improving treatment, pay and working conditions for farm workers.

Judy Chicago is an American artist, educator and writer, and a leading figure in feminist art. She received critical acclaim in the 1970s for her art project "The Dinner Party."

Famed scholar Noam Chomsky is known for both his groundbreaking contributions to linguistics and his penetrating critiques of political systems.

Actress Julie Christie won an Academy Award for her role in Darling, and earned a second nomination for her performance in McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

After writing radio and television plays for the BBC, British playwright Caryl Lesley Churchill penned the controversial theatrical play Seven Jewish Children.

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.

When Hillary Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2001, she became the only American first lady to hold national office. She became the 67th U.S. secretary of state in 2009, serving until 2013.

People's sexiest man alive George Clooney is an Oscar-winning actor best known for playing Dr. Doug Ross on TV's ER and Danny Ocean in the Ocean's Eleven films.

Levi Coffin was an American abolitionist who assisted thousands of runaway slaves on their flight to freedom.

Ben Cohen is the co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s.

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.

Michael Collins was a hero of the Irish struggle for independence, who directed guerrilla warfare during the intensification of the Anglo-Irish War.

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.

Jeff Corwin is a conservationist and the television host and producer of The Jeff Corwin Experience on the Animal Planet network.

Kim Dae-jung was president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He arranged an historic summit with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il.

Ted Danson is an American actor best known for playing bartender Sam Malone on the hit TV sitcom Cheers.

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

Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis played Thelma in the 1991 cult classic Thelma & Louise, starring opposite Susan Sarandon.

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.

Militant suffragette Emily Wilding Davison fought to gain equal voting rights for British women before dying at the Epsom Derby in 1913.

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.