Famous Activists a to z

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.

Dolores Huerta is an activist and labor leader who co-founded what would become the United Farm Workers.

Linda Hunt is a diminutive actress best known for her role as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously.

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

Anjelica Huston is an Academy Award-winning actress, a film director and the daughter of John Huston.

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

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a 17th century nun, self-taught scholar and acclaimed writer of the Latin American colonial period and the Hispanic Baroque. She was also a staunch advocate for women's rights.

Naturalist Terri Irwin is well-known as the widow of wildlife expert Steve Irwin. The couple co-hosted the Animal Planet show The Crocodile Hunter.

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.

Author and activist Jane Jacobs wrote about preserving urban neighborhoods, in books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Dark Age Ahead.

Janet Jagan co-founded the People's Progressive Party. She was the first woman to become prime minister of Guyana and was also Guyana’s first female president.

Justin Jeffre is a member of the popular 1990s boy band 98 Degrees, whose albums have reached gold and multi-platinum status.

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.

The wife of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson served as first lady from 1963 to 1969.

Angelina Jolie is one of Hollywood's leading actresses, known for movies like Changeling and Salt as much as she is for her relationship with actor Brad Pitt.

Mary Harris Jones (aka "Mother Jones") was a union activist. She founded the Social Democratic Party, and helped establish the Industrial Workers of the World.

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.

Shirley Jones is a singer and actress best known for her parts in movie musicals, and for her role as Mrs. Partridge on the 1970s television show The Partridge Family.

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.

Paul Kagame is a Rwandan military leader and politician who is best known for defeating Hutu extremist forces to end the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Raden Adjeng Kartini is a Javanese noblewoman and is best known as a pioneer in the area of women's rights for native Indonesians.

American educator Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder of the ACLU.

John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, negotiated the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and initiated the Alliance for Progress. He was assassinated in 1963.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the son of former New York senator and U.S. attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, and nephew of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

The matriarch of the Kennedy clan, Rose Kennedy saw three of her sons, Robert, John, and Edward, elected to public office and two of them killed by assassins.

American singer and songwriter Carole King has written or co-written over 400 songs that have been recorded by more than 1,000 artists.

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.

German graphic artist and sculptor Käthe Kollwitz was an eloquent advocate for victims of social injustice, war and inhumanity.

Vietnam War veteran and anti-war activist Ron Kovic wrote the autobiography Born on the Fourth of July, the basis of the Oliver Stone film starring Tom Cruise.

Musician and activist Fela Kuti pioneered Afrobeat music and was repeatedly arrested and beaten for writing lyrics that questioned the Nigerian government.

Dalai Lama, Tibet's political leader, has strived to make Tibet an independent and democratic state from China. He and his followers are exiled to India.

James Larkin was an Irish labor organizer and activist who founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union.

Environmentalist Aldo Leopold served as director of the Audubon Society in the mid-1930s. He also founded the Wilderness Society.

Candy Lightner founded one of the country's largest activist organizations, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, after her daughter died in a drunk driving accident.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He preserved the Union during the U.S. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves.

Viola Gregg Liuzzo was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. She was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan for her efforts.

Activist and lawyer Belva Lockwood was the first woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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

Mary Lyon was an educator and founder of the first women's college, which is now known as Mount Holyoke College.

Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan political and environmental activist and her country's assistant minister of environment, natural resources and wildlife.

Sean MacBride was an Irish politician and the former chief of staff of the IRA

Bernarr MacFadden was a well known physical culturist, and became the preeminent advocate for healthy living and exercise.

Winnie Mandela was the controversial wife of Nelson Mandela who spent her life in varying governmental roles.

Bill Maher is an American comedian, talk show host and political commentator.

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

Miriam Makeba, also known as "Mama Africa," was a popular South-African singer who introduced Xhosa and Zulu songs to Western audiences. She is best known for the songs "Pata Pata," "The Click Song" and "Malaika."

Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994. A symbol of global peacemaking, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Wilma Mankiller worked for several years as a leading advocate for the Cherokee people, and became the first woman to serve as their principal chief in 1985.

Robert Mapplethorpe, recognized as a giant of late 20th century photography, is best known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits.

French-American actor and model, Gilles Marini, finished second place on the eighth season of dance-competition show Dancing with the Stars.

Rita Marley, Bob Marley's widow, is best known for carrying on her late husband's musical legacy and for her own career as a solo artist.

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

Chris Martin is lead singer, rhythm guitarist and pianist for the alternative band Coldplay, which has won two Grammy awards one being for its debut album.

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

Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as the president of South Africa, holding leadership for more than nine years.

Jenny McCarthy was named Playboy's 1994 Playmate of the Year and hosted MTV's Singled Out from 1995 to 1997. She began hosting Love in the Wild in June 2012.

Linda McCartney was a photographer who became widely known as the wife of Beatle Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney is a former member of the Beatles and one of the most popular solo performers of all time.

Fashion designer and committed vegetarian Stella McCartney is the daughter of ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his late wife, Linda.

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.

Ian McKellen is a revered, award-winning British actor of stage and screen known for many roles, including The Lord of the Rings and X-Men series.

Founder of female musician showcase Lilith Fair, McLachlan's emotional ballads include "I Will Remember You," "Sweet Surrender," "Adia" and "Angel".

Native American activist and actor Russell Means is known for leading an armed takeover of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973, and for appearing in films like The Last of the Mohicans. In 2007, he helped draft a proposal to create a new nation for the Lakota tribe.

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

Argentina native Lionel Messi has established records for goals scored and won individual awards en route to worldwide recognition as the best player in soccer.

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

Harvey Milk became one of the first openly gay officials in the United States in 1977, when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Tragically, he was killed the following year.

Heather Mills is best known as the ex-wife of musician Paul McCartney as well as for her activism and philanthropy.

American gymnast Dominique Moceanu was a member of the "Magnificent Seven," the U.S. women's gymnastics team that won Olympic gold in 1996.

Kelly Monaco is an actress and model known for her role on General Hospital. Additionally, she was a Playboy "Playmate of the Month" in 1997, and won season 1 of Dancing with the Stars.

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

Contrasting her edgy, tomboyish style with that of her female popstar peers, Pink has had huge success with hits like "You Make Me Sick" and "There You Go".