Famous Movement a to z

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

Toussaint l'Ouverture was a leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution.

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.

Stieg Larsson was the Swedish author best known for his Millenium novels, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Vladimir Lenin was founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and architect and first head of the Soviet state.

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.

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

Antonio López de Santa Anna was a 19th century Mexican military officer who acted as the country’s president and dictator at different periods.

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

William Lyon Mackenzie was a journalist and political agitator who led an unsuccessful revolt against the Canadian government in 1837.

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

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

Herbert Marcuse was an American political philosopher whose Marxists theories of 20th-century Western society influenced liberal student groups in the 1960s.

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

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.

Golda Meir was best known as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel and the world’s third woman to hold the title.

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

Jean-Francois Millet was a French painter who is well known for his paintings of peasants and the labors of rural life.

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

Garrett Morgan blazed a trail for African-American inventors with his many patents, including those for a hair-straightening product, a breathing device, and an improved sewing machine and traffic signal.

Elijah Muhammad rose from poverty to become the charismatic leader of the black nationalist group Nation of Islam, and mentor of Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan.

James Nachtwey is an American photographer best known for his work documenting wars, civil strife and other social conflicts. His work has appeared in Time magazine and in international solo exhibitions.

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

U Ne Win was a Burmese military general who staged a coup and ruled his country from 1962 until 1988.

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

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.

James Otis was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who is best remembered for the phrase, "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

Robert Dale Owen, son of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen, is best known for being integral to the founding of the Smithsonian Institution.

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

President of Israel Shimon Peres was also twice prime minister of Israel and won a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Oslo Accords with Rabin and Arafat.

Spanish expatriate Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, as well as the co-creator of Cubism.

Horace Pippin was a self-taught, African-American painter whose art documented slavery and his experiences in World War I.

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.

Jiang Qing was the wife of Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung and implemented policies during the country’s Cultural Revolution.

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

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.

Jerry John Rawlings ruled Ghana twice, first in 1979 after a military coup, and then again from 1981 until 2001, as the result of free elections.

Man Ray was primarily known for his photography, which spanned both the Dada and Surrealism movements.

Adrienne Rich is a U.S. poet, scholar and critic whose work exhibits her commitment to the women's movement and a lesbian/feminist aesthetic influence.

Louis Riel was the leader of the Métis in western Canada who led his people in revolt against Canadian sovereignty.

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.

Roberto Rossellini, father of actress Isabella Rossellini, was an Italian film director associated with the Neorealist movement. His most celebrated work is Rome, Open City.

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

Sonia Sanchez formed the Broadside Quartet. She was an activist for racial equality, pioneered black studies and has written poetry, plays and kids’ books.

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.

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.

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.

Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel's 11th prime minister.

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

David Alfaro Siqueiros was a Mexican painter and muralist whose work reflected his Marxist ideology.

J.C.L. Simonde de Sismondi was an 18th-19th century economist and author who espoused pioneering ideas on governmental structures.

Susan Sontag was a critical essayist, cultural analyst, novelist and filmmaker. She wrote On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, The Volcano Lover and In America.

Percy Sutton was a Freedom Rider, civil rights activist and prominent African-American lawyer best known for representing Malcolm X.

Taksin was an 18th century Thai general and king.

Strom Thurmond served as a U.S. senator for South Carolina from 1956 to 2003, during which time he switched from Democrat to Republican due to his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He resigned from the Senate at age 100—becoming the oldest congressman in U.S. history.

William Monroe Trotter was a Harvard-educated journalist and activist who championed equal rights for African Americans.

Desmond Tutu is a South African Anglican cleric who is known for his role in the opposition to apartheid in South Africa.

Denmark Vesey was a freed slave who held meetings to organize what would have been the biggest slave revolt in U.S. history.

Faye Wattleton, former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood—as well as the first African-American, first female and youngest president in the organization's history—has been one of the strongest champions of women's rights and reproductive health for more than four decades.

Simone Weil was a French intellectual, activist and Christian Mystic.

Author Oscar Wilde published several acclaimed works, including The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Roy Wilkins was best known as the executive director of the NAACP and a leader of the African-American civil rights movement.