Martin Luther King Jr once said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Therefore, no American can afford to be apathetic about the problem of racial justice. It is a problem that meets every man at his front door."1 Many Civil Rights Activists understood that they had to unite to fight against racism. Activists faced racism and violence and even died for the cause. If not for these brave people, America would be far more unjust. Let's take a closer look at Civil Rights Activists.
Famous Civil Rights Activists
Many have contributed throughout the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, but there were well-known figureheads of the movement. When one thinks of the Civil Rights movement, one might remember notable names like Martin Luther King, Jr. or W. E. B. Du Bois. While famous leaders are most closely associated with events like the March on Washington, they were empowered by their supporters.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr is the most well-known activist of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, but he represented one group of the collective Civil Rights Movement. His faith-based position on non-violent protests moved the nation through his speeches and writings. King's lectures are still studied as guiding materials for those learning public speaking!
In 1963, King gave what might've been the most important speech of his career, the "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech showcased King's abilities as an orator and is considered a turning point during the Civil Rights Movement! This speech elevated the Civil Rights Movement from a Southern issue to a National cause!
Five years later, King was assassinated in Memphis, TN, by James Earl Ray. King was an influential activist during his lifetime. He was an excellent orator, and his speeches continued to influence people after his death.
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail
In the Spring of 1963, King and other African American peaceful protestors were arrested because he was involved in a non-violent protest. While King was imprisoned, several white pastors wrote criticisms of him that claimed King was an "outsider" and that the protest was "untimely and unwise." King responded with the Birmingham Letter.
In this letter, King addressed the core principles of his philosophy, why he was in Birmingham, Alabama, and the need for white people to join Black people in the movement. King wrote as if he were addressing the white ministers directly, but the letter was actually for all his critics. It was circulated in newspapers and available for anyone to read.
W. E. B. Du Bois
On February 23, 1868, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, W. E. B. Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was a sociologist who combated racism with polemic, a style of persuasion that argues a specific stance using direct evidence to undermine opposing views. Du Bois challenged lynching, discrimination in education, and the Jim Crow laws. He believed that Black Americans should be able to pursue any area of education they desired, not limited to agricultural or industrial trades. His observations were not only on the home front but also on the experiences of Black soldiers in France during WWI.
Lynching:
When a mob murders someone, often African Americans, for a supposed crime without trial or other judicial intervention
Fig 2: W. E. B. Du Bois
In 1908, Du Bois attended a conference organized by white activists to address racial violence against Black people. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and other notable activists founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the NAACP. This organization was created to fight for the rights of African Americans guaranteed in the Constitution and Amendments. This organization still exists today!
Black Civil Rights Activists
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 1925, to Earl and Louis Little. In 1946, Malcolm was convicted of theft. While in prison, he became a member of the Nation of Islam. Though Malcolm's views changed throughout his lifetime, he tirelessly supported the civil rights movement. Like King, Malcolm was assassinated. He died on February 21, 1965, in Manhattan, New York.
Fig 3: Malcolm X
Louis Little
Malcolm's parents were activists and instilled these values in their eight children. The family was targeted by racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and in 1931, Earl died in a "street car accident." Historians debate whether racists murdered Earl or whether his death was an accident. Louis raised her children as a single mother during the Great Depression. Often, the government withheld any form of assistance that was owed to her.
Louis suffered from post-partum depression, and Malcolm was a troublemaker at school. A judge used this to justify the placement of Malcolm and his siblings into the foster system. He had Louis committed to a mental asylum in 1938. Malcolm visited her twice during the 25 years that she was stuck there. Louis' activism played an important role in shaping Malcolm's worldview.
John Lewis
John Lewis worked in many roles to move civil rights forward in his lifetime. Lewis was the chairperson of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, founded in 1960. He was the leader of the march on Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. The marchers faced police violence when they attempted to cross the bridge. This event is known as Bloody Sunday.
Fig 4: John Lewis
Lewis was an integral part of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
After the 1960s, he became a member of the US House of Representatives in 1986 until he died in 2020.
Female Civil Rights Activists
Rosa Parks
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white man.
The bus driver, James F. Blake, ordered her and two other African Americans to stand in the back of the bus so that one white man could sit down. Parks refused and was arrested. She was the face of the desegregation of public buses because of her refusal to comply with the racist standards put forth by society.
Fig 5: Rosa Parks
Park's arrest sparked the Civil Rights Movement needed to start the fire. Martin Luther King and many other activists organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted 381 days. These peaceful protests marked the start of the Civil Rights Movement!
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells was born in 1862 and was an enslaved person. Wells found freedom after the Civil War and remained in the South. She documented the terror of living in the South as a Black person in Southern Horrors. Wells wrote about lynching and white violence against African Americans. Wells was forced to flee from the South but continued her activism in the North.
Fig 6: Ida B. Wells
Native American Civil Rights Activists
The oppression of Native Americans began when Europeans began to explore the Americas. Historically, legislation happened around indigenous people, and their preferences weren't considered. This hasn't stopped Native American activists from participating in legislation and politics.
Richard Oakes
From 1969 - 1971, Native Americans occupied Alcatraz Island under the leadership of Richard Oakes. The Indians of All Tribes needed a location to meet after their building burned down. The Treaty of Fort Laramie gave Native Americans the ability to occupy deserted government buildings. Oaks led the Indians of All Tribes to occupy the abandoned Alcatraz prison. Oakes' involvement ended when a tragic accident on the island claimed his step-daughter's life.
Fig 7: Richard Oakes
White Civil Rights Activists
White allies have contributed to the civil rights movement alongside black activists. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee members were white and black; white activists also participated as Freedom Riders in the segregated South, along with sit-ins.
Jonathan Daniels
Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal minister, answered Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for allies. He joined King's march around Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery. The following summer, Daniels was arrested with a group of protestors who participated in a picket of a segregated store in Fort Deposit, Alabama.
When they were released, some members, including 17-year-old Ruby Sales, went to a nearby desegregated store to purchase refreshments. However, the group was met by a special deputy officer who aimed a shotgun at the group. Daniels pushed Sales out of the way of the shot and received a fatal wound. King said he died performing a heroic Christian act, and the Episcopal church later made Daniels a martyr.
Fig 8: Jonathan Daniels
Civil Rights Activists Groups
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
In 1909, following an outbreak of racial-based violence in Springfield, Illinois, Black civil rights leaders were called to meet and address the immediate danger to people of color in the United States. The leaders knew organizing on a large scale was necessary to enact change. Black civil rights leaders of the time, like Ida Wells and W. E. B Du Bois, as well as influential white allies like Charles Edward Russell and Florence Kelley, came together to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NAACP has continued to be a leading non-profit advocate for the civil rights of all people. Today the NAACP has over 2,000 groups across the country with over 2 million advocates. They seek to achieve equal rights for all people by voting, setting court precedence, and local boots-on-the-ground interventions.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Ella Baker, an inspirational African American activist, met with college activists in North Carolina on behalf of Martin Luther King, Jr. King and Baker saw the young activists as allies. King wanted them to join his organization and commit non-violence, but Baker had different goals. She encouraged them to do what they believed was best and be the activists they wanted.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was founded in the spring of 1960 to build on the success of student sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. The SNCC didn't join King's organization because they had different ideas of what direct action included. The SNCC focused on grass-roots interventions organized to produce long-lasting change.
The Greensboro Sit-in was a non-violent protest started by four Black students who refused to leave when a Woolworth's lunch counter refused to serve them. The four students did not engage in violence or vocal protesting. The number of students grew to an estimated 1,500 over the following days, and the initiative spread across the state.
Fig 9: Greensboro Sit-In
National Congress of American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians was formed in 1944 in Denver, Colorado. The charter members had gathered to discuss how to resist the United States federal government's efforts to push assimilation onto the native tries. This push for control over Native American/Indigenous People's affairs conflicted with the pre-existing treaties between the two. The NCAI has continued to represent the interests of Native Americans as the oldest American Indigenous People's civil rights organization.
Civil Rights Activists
Throughout the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, many organizations have formed to oppose those who seek to limit free om. Figureheads led these organizations in the Civil Rights Movement, whose individual impacts on the movement were monument al. Beginning with W. E. B. Du Bois and Ida Wells, both men and women of color and white allies, have continued to strive for equality for all. The history of the United States cannot be discussed without acknowledging the impact of these leaders.
Civil Rights Activists - Key takeaways
- People of all genders and races led the civil rights movement.
- Not all civil rights activists pursued the goal of equality in the same manner.
- Some activists employed non-violence, while others took a more militant role in achieving equality.
- The Native American Civil Rights movement began with the United States refusing to honor the pre-existing treaties and later progressed into an environmental protection effort.
- Many who led the effort to achieve civil rights for people of color in the United States paid with their lives, careers, families, or all three to reach the point we are today and must be recognized for their value.
References
- Martin Luther King, Jr., "The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousness" New York, NY, (1960).,
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