30 Civil Rights Leaders of the Past and Present
We’ll feel the impact of these civil rights activists for generations to come.
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When you’re asked to think of vital Black American civil rights leaders, it’s likely that Martin Luther King Jr. instantly comes to mind—and why wouldn’t he? Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, the hero of the Civil Rights Movement was an unparalleled pillar of strength for African Americans in the nonviolent fight toward equality and the end of legal segregation in the United States. It’s clear that understanding his work—from his arrests to his demonstrations to his unforgettable words of wisdom—is key to having a clearer picture of not only Black history, but American history.
But he’s not the only figure we should actively learn about. Many Black civil rights activists preceded him, stood beside him, or have come after him and toiled in his memory, making it their priority to fight for the freedom of all Black Americans against all odds. Although you might recognize a few of these names from the pages of your history books or Black History Month lessons, others might turn out to be welcome discoveries, especially those hidden figures of our time. Then there are the leaders in our present moment who work to ensure people recognize that #BlackLivesMatter. Although their collective work spans decades, these civil rights leaders all have something in common: We’ll continue to feel their impact for generations to come.
Here are some highlights from the illustrious careers of 30 civil icons, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Dorothy Height, John Lewis, Ibram X. Kendi, and Ruby Bridges.
Ida B. Wells
1862-1931
As a dedicated journalist and feminist, Ida B. Wells used investigative reporting to shed light on the horrors of the lynching of Black Americans in the Jim Crow South. According to The Guardian, her work contradicted the common accepted belief that only rapists and other criminals were killed, rather than just victims of racism. Wells was also a cofounder of the NAACP and worked alongside Susan B. Anthony during the women’s suffrage movement.
Mary Church Terrell
1863-1954
A graduate of Oberlin College, Mary Church Terrell used her status as a member of the upper-class Black community to promote the advancement of her people through activism and education. Terrell’s father was enslaved before becoming one of the South’s first Black millionaires, according to the National Women’s History Museum. Terrell cofounded the National Association of Colored Women and the NAACP.
W.E.B. Du Bois
1868-1963
W.E.B. Du Bois was a sociologist, historian, and editor who cofounded the NAACP in 1909. In addition to serving on the board of directors and as a director of publicity and research, the Harvard graduate was also founder and editor of the NAACP’s magazine The Crisis. Through the publication, he influenced readers with ideals that were considered radical at the time. He advocated for protests and challenging of the societal norms that kept Black Americans segregated from their white counterparts. He encouraged integration and Black nationalism, values that were in direct opposition to the more conservative civil rights leader Booker T. Washington.
A. Philip Randolph
1889-1979
As a trade unionist and passionate civil rights advocate, A. Philip Randolph created the first successful Black trade union and led them to (reluctant) acceptance into the American Federation of Labor. For much of his career, Randolph fought for equal trade opportunities for Black people. In regards to the ability of African Americans to partake in federal government employment and contracts, he vowed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that he’d lead thousands in a protest in Washington, D.C., if they didn’t receive equal treatment, resulting in the POTUS signing an executive order that banned discrimination in defense industries and at the federal level. Randolph also founded the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation, which inspired President Harry Truman to sign an executive order that forbade segregation in the military. He was also a principal organizer for 1963’s March on Washington.
Roy Wilkins
1901-1981
Roy Wilkins was the executive director of the NAACP before stepping down in 1977. He was dedicated to nonviolence and prioritized using legal avenues to fight for change, such as leading the organization during the successful Brown v. Board of Education case and more.
Wilkins was also one of the minds behind the March on Washington in 1963 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.
Ella Baker
1903-1986
Ella Baker was a field secretary and branch director for the NAACP who cofounded an organization that raised money to fight Jim Crow laws. She was also a key organizer for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. But her passion was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which she founded to prioritize nonviolent protest. She also helped to organize the 1961 Freedom Rides and aided in registering Black voters.
Thurgood Marshall
1908-1993
President Lyndon Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, making him the first African American person to assume this role (which he held for 24 years). He’s also known for arguing and winning the case Brown v. Board of Education, which resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation in U.S. public schools according to race was unconstitutional in 1954. The attorney won 29 of the 32 cases he argued at the nation’s highest court throughout his career and previously served as chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 1940.
Pauli Murray
1910-1985
Pauli Murray was an author, lawyer, women’s rights activist, the first Black person to earn a doctor of the science of law degree from Yale, and the first Black woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. Many of Murray’s essays, poems, and books (“Negroes Are Fed Up,” Dark Testament, and States’ Laws on Race and Color) were foundational works of the Civil Rights Movement. Murray cofounded the Congress of Racial Equality and the National Organization for Women in 1966, alongside many noted feminists of the time, and was appointed to President John F. Kennedy’s Committee on Civil and Political Rights.
Bayard Rustin
1912-1987
Bayard Rustin’s lifelong commitment to nonviolence was at the root of his leadership in activism, as he’s credited with organizing many mass civil rights demonstrations, including 1957’s Prayer Pilgrimage to Freedom and 1963’s famous March on Washington. Rustin was openly gay, a taboo fact at the time that mostly didn’t deter Martin Luther King Jr. from valuing Rustin as an important adviser. He assisted King through the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the creation of the Southern Leadership Conference, while also deepening King’s knowledge of nonviolent tactics that became a pillar of the renowned leader’s legacy.
Jo Ann Robinson
1912-1992
As a professor at Alabama State College and president of Montgomery’s Women’s Political Council, Jo Ann Robinson made desegregating the city’s buses her priority. Although she was already laying the foundation for a boycott, it was Rosa Park’s arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus that officially sparked Robinson to initiate action. What started as a one-day boycott turned into a 381-day fight led by the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), with Martin Luther King Jr. as its president. Robinson was a prominent leader behind the scenes of the MIA, largely contributing to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1956 ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional.
Dorothy Height
1912-2010
After becoming president of the National Council of Negro Women, Dorothy Height served in the position for 40 years, making her one of the most trusted and leading voices for Black women during and after the Civil Rights Movement. It was during this time that she advocated for criminal justice reform and was vocal about the tragedies of lynching in the South. The Women’s History Museum credits her exemplary organizing skills as a way that she earned the trust of the likes of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And as a leading organizer, Height was also welcomed on the speaker’s stage at the 1963 March on Washington, representing the only women’s group involved in the demonstration. In 1994, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 2004, she was given the Congressional Gold Medal.
Rosa Parks
1913-2005
Rosa Parks is synonymous with the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. It all stems from December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, when Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger. Despite being arrested and jailed, her bravery sparked the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott, which led to the segregation of buses being deemed unconstitutional.
But her activism did not begin with that fateful day. At the time, Park had a passion for social justice and was the secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. After the boycott, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 1996 and was given the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Following her death in 2005, Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.
Whitney Young Jr.
1921-1971
Beginning in 1961, World War II veteran Whitney Young Jr. was the executive director of the National Urban League for 10 years, where he developed relationships with white politicians to influence public policy to benefit the Black poor and working class. He was a trusted adviser for Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson. According to Clark Atlanta University, Young coauthored Johnson’s “War on Poverty” legislation.
Malcolm X
1925-1965
After he converted while in prison for robbery, Malcolm X’s Islamic faith was the foundation of his social justice advocacy. As a prominent leader and voice in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X preached ideals of Black nationalism and independence by tapping into the anger and frustration that resulted from years of racism and segregation. He was vocal about disagreeing with the nonviolent tactics of the mainstream Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., insisting that white people were innately evil and Black people were superior. His words fueled the Black Power movement in the 1960s and ’70s.
However, two years before his death, he broke from the Nation of Islam and, in 1964, converted to Sunni Islam. He softened his more extreme views and formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity in hopes of globalizing the Black American fight.
James Meredith
1933-present
U.S. Air Force veteran James Meredith became the first Black student to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962. But this achievement followed a string of tumultuous events, including multiple registration attempts, opposition that led Meredith to take legal action, the involvement of the U.S. Supreme Court, and violent rioting on campus among hundreds of marshals, soldiers, and others. Two bystanders died in the tumult. Now 90 years old, Meredith is the author of multiple books and has been involved in politics.
Julian Bond
1940-2015
Morehouse College graduate Julian Bond was a prominent and outspoken figure of the Civil Rights Movement. While a student at the historically Black college, he cofounded the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC) alongside John Lewis. SNCC was opposed to the Vietnam War and repeatedly directed the national media’s attention to the racist treatment of Black Americans in the South.
Bond was a member of the Georgia General Assembly for 20 years and elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965. However, he was blocked from the seat by white members of the House who saw him as disloyal for opposing the war in Vietnam. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered him to be seated on the grounds of freedom of speech. He held the position for six terms. The statesman was also the cofounder of the Southern Poverty Law Center and chairman of the NAACP.
John Lewis
1940-2020
John Lewis—the man who coined the term “good trouble”—was a pillar for social justice and a staunch advocate for nonviolent civil rights demonstrations. Lewis was arrested multiple times in the Jim Crow South for organizing sit-ins at segregated lunch counters and participating in the 1961 Freedom Rides. Dubbed one of the “Big 6” of the Civil Rights Movement—along with Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, and Whitney Young Jr., Lewis was the youngest speaker and organizer of the March on Washington.
Lewis also led the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and the crossing of Edmund Pettus Bridge on what became known as “Bloody Sunday” after state troopers brutally attacked marchers. Lewis suffered a fractured skull, yet the demonstration and its aftermath influenced the passing of the Voting Rights Act, which Lewis remained a staunch supporter of until his last days.
In 1986, he was elected to the House of Representatives in Georgia’s 5th district. It was a position he held until his death in 2020. The politician was also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to him by Barack Obama in 2011.
Ernestine Eckstein
1941-1992
As a Black woman and a lesbian, Ernestine Eckstein was a leading supporter of both civil and LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and ’70s. She worked with the NAACP and was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality, but her most influential position was as vice president of the New York chapter of Daughters of Bilitis, which was the first center solely for lesbians in NYC. Eckstein also participated in the earliest picket line protests for gay rights in the country. There are photos of her demonstrating in 1965 in front of the White House as the only person of color in attendance.
Marsha P. Johnson
1945-1992
Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson is known to many as the leader of the gay liberation movement. She led an uprising after members of the LGBTQ community were harassed at at the Stonewall Inn by members of the New York Police Department in 1969. Johnson was a successful drag queen and used her influence to lift up others, creating the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries in 1970, an organization that worked to find housing for homeless transgender youth.
Ruby Bridges
1954-present
At age 6, Ruby Bridges became the first Black student to integrate William Franz Elementary School—a white public school in New Orleans—in November 1960. Southern states had been opposing the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that made segregation in public schools unconstitutional, but Louisiana was forced to integrate following a federal court order.
Angry onlookers jeered at Bridges as she walked by with the help of federal marshals on her first day, and white parents removed their kids from the institution. She was the youngest Black student to do this in the American South.
Norman Rockwell’s famous 1963 painting depicts her groundbreaking walk on that first day. In 2011, President Barack Obama paid tribute to Bridges, now 69, at the White House.
Schools in states like California and Oregon observe Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day annually on November 14.
McKenzie Jean-Philippe is the editorial assistant at OprahMag.com covering pop culture, TV, movies, celebrity, and lifestyle. She loves a great Oprah viral moment and all things Netflix—but come summertime, Big Brother has her heart. On a day off you'll find her curled up with a new juicy romance novel.
Jane Burnett is an Assistant Editor at Oprah Daily, where she writes a variety of lifestyle content for the editorial team. She's a journalist with a pop culture sweet tooth—when she isn't catching up on celebrity news, she's usually listening to a podcast! Jane was previously an on-air reporter in local news, and worked at Thrive Global, Ladders News, and Reuters. She also interned at CNBC through the Emma Bowen Foundation, and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
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