Famous Activists a to z

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

Lucretia Mott was a leading social reformer of her time and helped to form the Free Religious Association.

Naturalist, writer, and advocate of U.S. forest conservation, John Muir founded the Sierra Club and helped establish Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.

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

Attorney Ralph Nader is an auto-safety reformer and consumer advocate. He’s run for president several times, having been both a Democrat and Green Party member.

Sarojini Naidu was an India political leader best known as the first female President of the India National Congress.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi’s father, was a leader of India’s nationalist movement and became India’s first prime minister after its independence.

Willie Nelson is a country singer and songwriter best known for hit songs including “Crazy” and “On the Road Again.”

African-American hairdresser and inventor Lyda Newman patented an improved hairbrush design in New York City in 1898.

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.

Pat Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. As first lady, she traveled extensively and championed volunteerism.

Asra Nomani is known for her fight for women's equality in the American Islamic community.

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

Irish nationalist and playwright Sean O’Casey wrote about life in the slums of Dublin, in plays like The Shadow of a Gunman and The Plough and the Stars.

With her signature shaved head, Sinead O'Connor emerged with a powerful and expressive voice, complex songs, and a fair share of controversy.

Clifford Odets was the leading dramatist of the theater of social protest in the United States during the 1930s. He helped form the influential Group Theatre.

Yoko Ono is a multimedia artist who became known worldwide in the 1960s when she married Beatles front man John Lennon.

Mary White Ovington was a civil rights activist and one of the white reformers who helped found the NAACP.

Hayden Panettiere is the young American actress who became famous for her role as the cheerleader on the television show Heroes.

Dorothy Parker was the sharpest wit of the Algonquin Round Table, as well as a master of short fiction and a blacklisted screenwriter.

English born, English bred, forgotten by the English and the world, James Parkinson identified the "shaking palsy" as a disease of the central nervous system.

Lucy Parsons was an activist who was politically radical for her times and one of the first minority activists.

Suffragette Alice Paul dedicated her life's work to women's rights and was a key figure in the push for the 19th Amendment.

Senator Rand Paul, son of Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, is best known for his support of the Tea Party movement and his controversial comments on the Civil Rights Act.

Actress, musician and activist Pauley Perette is best known as the lab technician on the crime drama NCIS.

Eva Perón used her position as the first lady of Argentina to fight for women's suffrage and improving the lives of the poor.

Harold Pinter is a renowned British playwright who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.

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.

Princess Diana was Princess of Wales while married to Prince Charles. One of the most adored members of the British royal family, she died in a 1997 car crash.

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

Manuel Quezon was leader of the Filipino independence movement and first president of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935.

Bonnie Raitt is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose musical range encompasses blues, folk, rhythm and blues, pop, and country rock.

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.

Queen Rania of Jordan is best known for her advocacy work in public health, education and as an outspoken opponent of the practice of "honor killings."

Jeannette Rankin was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. She helped pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, and was a committed pacifist.

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.

American actor John Ratzenberger, best known as mailman Cliff Clavin from the television series Cheers, has also contributed voice-acting to every animated Pixar feature film.

Johannes Rau was a member of the Social Democratic Party Executive and chair of the party state organization before serving as president of Germany (1999-2004).

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

Robert Redford is a Hollywood legend, starring in several blockbuster films in his day, and producing and directing many others. He also helped start the Sundance Film Festival in the late 1970s.

One of the greatest women's beach volleyball players of all-time, Gabrielle Reece is also a successful model, actress, writer and fitness expert.

British artist Jamie Reid designed artwork for the Sex Pistols album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, which includes the song "Anarchy in the U.K." His artistic style helped define the look of the English punk rock scene of the late 1970s.

American actor, director and producer Rob Reiner is best known for directing the classic hits Stand By Me (1996) and When Harry Met Sally (1989).

Singer Kevin Richardson, the eldest of the Backstreet Boys and People magazine's Sexiest Pop Star of 1999, is also known for acting on Broadway and in indie films.

Branch Rickey was an innovative baseball executive known for his groundbreaking 1945 decision to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, thereby breaking the color barrier.

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.

Venture capitalist and environmentalist Laurance Rockefeller founded the American Conservation Association and put conservationism on the American agenda.

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.

Ann Romney is the former first lady of Massachusetts and the wife of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

A New York governor who became the 26th U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt is remembered for his foreign policy, corporate reforms and ecological preservation.

Civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, spurring the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation.

Mickey Rourke is an American actor who had great success and became a sex symbol in the 1980s. He left acting to box but has recently returned to the screen.

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin was an American community leader and women's rights activist who focused particularly on issues affecting African-American women.

Bayard Rustin was a civil rights organizer and activist, best known for his work as adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950s and '60s.

Cyrus S. Eaton was a Canadian industrialist and formed the third largest steel company in the United States.

Aung San Suu Kyi is an opposition leader in her home country of Myanmar and the winner of the  1991 Nobel Prize for Peace.

Bobby Sands was an Irish nationalist who led a hunger strike in prison in 1981. He was elected Member of Parliament during the strike and died May 5, 1981.

Margaret Sanger was an early feminist and women's rights activist who coined the term "birth control" and worked towards its legalization.

Jean-Paul Sartre was a 20th century intellectual, writer and activist who put forth pioneering ideas on existentialism.

Augusta Savage is remembered as an artist, activist, and arts educator, serving as an inspiration to the many that she taught, helped, and encouraged.

Rose Schneiderman was a labor activist, union leader and social reformer. She held labor-related positions in Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration during the Great Depression.

Howard Schultz is CEO and chairman of Starbucks, the highly successful coffee company.

Dred Scott was a slave and social activist who served several masters before suing for his freedom. His case made it to the Supreme Court (Dred Scott v. Sandford) prior to the American Civil War.

Actor Steven Seagal makes popular action movies such as the 1998 hit Under Siege. He studied martial arts in Asia and opened an academy in the U.S.

American folk singer Pete Seeger is an iconic figure in the mid-20th century, and is best known for his contributions to the American folk music revival.

Emmy Award–winning television and film writer Rod Serling created and hosted the sci-fi fantasy series The Twilight Zone and co-wrote Planet of the Apes.

Betty Shabazz is best known as the wife of African-American nationalist leader Malcolm X, who was assassinated in New York City in 1965.

Mutulu Shakur is a former Black Liberation Army member and resistance leader who received a 60-year prison sentence in 1987 for his role in the 1981 Brinks bank robbery. He's also the stepfather of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Al Sharpton is an outspoken and sometimes controversial political activist in the fight against racial prejudice and injustice.

Dr. Anna Howard Shaw was the first female minister in the Methodist Protestant Church. She spent most of her life working for the cause of women's suffrage.

Ally Sheedy is a film actress who became famous in the early 1980s for her roles in films such as War Games, The Breakfast Club, and St. Elmo's Fire.

Martin Sheen is an American actor best known for his roles in films Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979). He has won numerous awards for his role as President Bartlet on the TV series The West Wing.