List of African-American activists

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of African-American activists^[1] covering various areas of activism, but primarily focus on those African Americans who historically and currently have been fighting racism and racial injustice against African Americans. The United States of America has a long history of racism against its Black citizens.^[2] The names detailed below contains only notable African Americans who are known to be activist (sorted by surname).

List of activists

 

Martin Luther King

 

Ralph Abernathy

 

Maya Angelou

 

James Baldwin

 

Marion Barry

 

James Bevel

 

Ralph Bunche

 

Shirley Chisholm

 

Fannie Lou Hamer

 

Jesse Jackson

 

Martin Luther King Jr.

 

John Lewis

 

Thurgood Marshall

 

James Meredith

 

Rosa Parks

 

Bayard Rustin

 

Malcolm X

 

Andrew Young

A

• Ralph Abernathy, civil rights activist and minister^[3]
• Muhammad Ali, civil rights activist
• Naomi Anderson, civil and women's rights activist^[4]
• Maya Angelou, civil rights activist, writer, poet

B

• Ella Baker, civil rights activist
• James Baldwin, civil rights activist, novelist, playwright^[5]
• Marion Barry, civil rights activist, politician
• Daisy Bates, civil rights activist, publisher, journalist, lecturer
• Carl Bean, AIDS/HIV and LGBT activist and minister
• Mary McLeod Bethune, civil rights activist, educator
• James Bevel, minister, leader of the civil rights movement
• Sojourner Truth, civil rights activist
• Gloria Blackwell, civil rights activist, educator
• Unita Blackwell, civil rights activist
• W. E. B. Du Bois, civil rights activist
• Julian Bond, civil rights activist, professor and writer
• Lillie Mae Bradford, civil rights activist
• Ruby Bridges, civil rights activist
• Aurelia Browder, civil rights activist^[6]
• Ralph Bunche, civil rights activist, scientist, academic, diplomat
• Nannie Helen Burroughs, civil and women's rights activist, educator, religious leader and businesswoman^[7]

C

• Beatrice Morrow Cannady, civil rights activist, publisher
• Archibald Carey Jr., civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, politician, diplomat and clergyman^[8]
• Bunchy Carter, civil rights activist
• Christine Michel Carter, advocate for caregivers, specifically working mothers^[9]
• Jeannette Carter (1886–1964), lawyer, labor organizer, and suffragist
• Julius L. Chambers, civil rights activist
• Fannie Lee Chaney, civil rights activist
• James Chaney, civil rights activist
• Shirley Chisholm, civil rights activist, educator
• Xernona Clayton, civil rights activist
• Septima Poinsette Clark, civil rights activist, educator
• Eldridge Cleaver, civil rights activist
• Kathleen Cleaver, civil rights activist
• Charles E. Cobb Jr., civil rights activist, journalist, professor
• John Conyers, civil rights activist
• Vivian E. J. Cook, educator and activist
• Marvel Cooke, civil rights activist
• Annie Lee Cooper, civil rights activist
• Dorothy Cotton, civil rights activist
• Claudette Colvin, civil rights activist, nurse^[10]
• Anna J. Cooper, civil and women's rights activist, author, educator, sociologist, scholar^[11]
• John Anthony Copeland Jr.
• Patrisse Cullors, civil rights activist, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement^[12][13][14]
• Elijah Cummings, civil rights advocate

D

• Angela Davis, civil rights activist, academic, and author^[15]
• Ossie Davis, civil rights activist
• William L. Dawson, civil rights activist, politician
• Ruby Dee, civil rights activist
• Doris Derby, civil rights activist, photographer
• Charles Diggs, civil rights activist^[16]
• Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, black rights activist, women's rights activist, organizer^[17] – February 20, 1895^[18]
• W. E. B. Du Bois, activist, writer, founder of NAACP

E

• Marian Wright Edelman, civil rights activist
• Soffiyah Eliijah, activist for prisoner rights
• Ruth Ellis, LGBT rights activist
• Keith Ellison, politician
• Theresa El-Amin, civil rights activist and union organizer^[19]
• Charles Evers, civil rights activist
• Medgar Evers, civil rights activist
• Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights activist

F

• David Fagen, civil rights and labor activist^[20]
• James L. Farmer Jr., civil rights activist
• Walter E. Fauntroy, civil rights activist
• Sarah Mae Flemming, civil rights activist
• James Forman, civil rights activist
• Aretha Franklin, civil rights activist
• C. L. Franklin, civil rights activist, minister
• Elizabeth Freeman, first former slave to win a freedom suit in Massachusetts
• Frankie Muse Freeman, civil rights activist, attorney

G

• Erica Garner, civil rights and Black Lives Matter activist^[21]
• Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement
• Ernest Green, civil rights activist, part of the Little Rock Nine
• Fred Gray, civil rights lawyer
• Shields Green, abolitionist
• Dick Gregory, civil rights activist
• Vicki Garvin, civil rights activist

H

• Vincent Harding, civil rights activist, historian
• Craig G. Harris, HIV/AIDS and LGBT activist, writer, poet
• Curtis W. Harris, civil rights activist, minister, politician
• Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist
• Fred Hampton, civil rights activist
• Lorraine Hansberry, civil rights activist, playwright, author
• Frances Harper, abolitionist and women's rights activist
• Robert Hayling, civil rights activist, dentist
• Lola Hendricks, civil rights activist, secretary
• Aaron Henry, civil rights activist, politician
• Dorothy Height, educator and civil rights activist
• Benjamin Hooks, civil rights activist, minister, attorney
• Lena Horne, civil rights activist
• Elbert Howard, civil rights activist
• T. R. M. Howard, civil rights leader, entrepreneur, surgeon
• Langston Hughes, civil rights activist, poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist
• Bobby Hutton, civil rights activist
• Nipsey Hussle, community activist

I

• Rizza Islam, civil rights activist, member of the Nation of Islam

J

• George Jackson, civil rights activist, author
• Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist
• Jimmie Lee Jackson, civil rights activist
• Mahalia Jackson, civil rights activist
• Marsha P. Johnson, civil rights activist
• Richie Jean Jackson, civil rights activist, author, teacher
• T. J. Jemison, civil rights activist, minister
• James Weldon Johnson, writer of Black National Anthem
• Alberta Odell Jones, civil rights lawyer
• Clarence B. Jones, civil rights activist
• Quincy Jones, civil rights activist
• Barbara Jordan, civil rights activist
• Vernon Jordan, civil rights activist

K

• Colin Kaepernick, BLM activist, former football player
• Sarah Louise Keys
• A. D. King, civil rights activist
• Alveda King, civil rights activist, author, politician
• Bernice King, civil rights activist, minister
• Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist
• Dexter King, civil rights activist
• Martin Luther King III, civil rights activist
• Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader and pastor
• Martin Luther King Sr., civil rights leader, pastor and missionary
• Alberta Williams King, civil rights activist
• Yolanda King, civil rights activist
• Eartha Kitt, civil rights activist

L

• Bernard Lafayette, civil rights activist, organizer
• Sarah Willie Layton, suffragist, civil rights activist
• James Lawson, civil rights activist, professor
• John Lewis, congressman, Nashville Student Movement, organizer
• Audre Lorde, civil rights activist, feminist, poet, author
• Joseph Lowery, civil rights activist and minister
• Julius Lester, civil rights activist, author, professor
• Conrad Lynn, civil rights activist, lawyer

M

• Thurgood Marshall, civil rights activist, lawyer, judge
• Benjamin Mays, civil rights activist, minister
• Franklin McCain, civil rights activist
• DeRay Mckesson
• Floyd McKissick, civil rights activist, lawyer
• John Berry Meachum, civil rights activist, educatior, religious leader, involved in the Underground Railroad^[22]
• James Meredith, civil rights figure, writer, political adviser
• Anne Moody, civil rights activist, author
• Harry T. Moore, civil rights activist, educator
• Harriette Moore, civil rights worker, educator
• Amzie Moore, civil rights leader, entrepreneur
• Irene Morgan
• Bob Moses, civil rights activist, educator
• Elijah Muhammad, civil rights leader
• Khalid Abdul Muhammad
• Pauli Murray, civil rights activist, lawyer, author, priest

N

• Diane Nash, civil rights activist
• Dangerfield Newby, abolitionist
• Huey P. Newton, civil rights activist
• Bree Newsome
• Denise Nicholas, civil rights activist
• Nellie B. Nicholson, suffragist
• E. D. Nixon, civil rights activist, NCAAP official

O

• James Orange, civil rights activist
• Sarah Massey Overton, women's rights activist

P

• Rosa Parks, activist, NCAAP official, Montgomery Bus Boycott inspiration^[23]
• Lucy Parsons
• James Peck, civil rights activist
• Adam Clayton Powell Jr., civil rights activist, pastor
• Gloria Johnson-Powell, civil rights activist
• Elizabeth Piper Ensley, educator and suffragist
• Jewel Prestage

R

• Lincoln Ragsdale, civil rights activist, aviator
• A. Philip Randolph, civil rights activist
• Emma J. Ray, civil rights and social activist, suffragist
• George Raymond, civil rights activist
• George Raymond Jr., civil rights activist
• Frederick D. Reese, civil rights activist, educator, minister
• Gloria Richardson, civil rights activist
• David Richmond, civil rights activist
• Paul Robeson, civil rights activist
• Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights activist
• Jackie Robinson, civil rights activist
• Jo Ann Robinson, civil rights activist
• Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist
• Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, civil rights activist

S

• Bobby Seale
• Cleveland Sellers, civil rights activist, educator
• Betty Shabazz, civil rights activist
• Al Sharpton, civil rights activist, minister
• Mary Ann Shadd
• Al Sharpton
• Charles Sherrod, civil rights activist, minister
• Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights activist
• Mary Louise Smith, civil rights activist
• Nina Simone, civil rights activist
• Mavis Staples, civil rights activist
• Marion Stamps
• Charles Kenzie Steele, civil rights activist
• Charles Steele Jr., civil rights activist, politician
• Bryan Stevenson, criminal justice reform activist

T

• Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and suffragist
• Harriet Tubman, abolitionist and humanitarian
• Samuel Wilbert Tucker, civil rights activist, lawyer

V

• C. T. Vivian, civil rights activist, author, minister

W

• Madam C. J. Walker
• Wyatt Tee Walker, pastor, civil rights leader
• Booker T. Washington, educator, founder of Tuskegee University^[24]
• Ida B. Wells, civil rights activist, co-founder of the NAACP
• Cornel West, civil rights activist, philosopher, author, minister
• Roy Wilkins, civil rights activist
• Hosea Williams, civil rights activist, minister, businessman, philanthropist, scientist, politician
• Robert F. Williams, civil rights leader, author
• Bobby E. Wright

X

• Malcolm X, human rights activist, minister

Y

• Andrew Young, politician, diplomat, and activist
• Whitney Young, civil rights activist
• Sammy Younge Jr., civil rights activist

References

1. Evan F. Moore "In honor of Black History Month, here's a list of Chicagoans you should know", Chicago Sun-Times, February 1, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
2. Kleinig, John, Handled with Discretion: Ethical Issues in Police Decision Making, Rowman & Littlefield (1996), p. 157, ISBN 9780847681778. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
3. , (archive)
4. Smith, Jessie Carney; Phelps, Shirelle, Notable Black American Women, Book 2, VNR AG (1996), p. 11, ISBN 9780810391772.
5. Henneberg, Susan. James Baldwin: Groundbreaking Author and Civil Rights Activist, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc (2014), pp. 6–8, 66, ISBN 9781477778975.
6. Schwartz, Barry (June 2009). "Collective Forgetting and the Symbolic Power of Oneness: The Strange Apotheosis of Rosa Parks". Social Psychology Quarterly. 72 (2): 123–142. doi:10.1177/019027250907200204. JSTOR 25593914. S2CID 3450932.
7. "Nannie Helen Burroughs papers, 1900–1963 (Library of Congress), Biographical Note (Woman's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America)". Hdl.loc.gov. 2001. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
8. Dickerson, Dennis C., "The Wesleyan Witness in the US Civil Rights Movement: The Allen Legacy against 20th Century American Apartheid", 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
9. Carter, Christine Michel (2019-04-19). "How I Got My Employer to Acknowledge My Nursing Issue". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
10. "Claudette Colvin Biography, Activist, Civil Rights Activist, Medical Professional (1939–)", Biography.com, A&E Television Networks, April 1, 2014.
11. Foundations of African-American Sociology 2017-03-06 at the Wayback Machine. Hampton University Department of Sociology. Hampton University. Retrieved 7 March 2017. From Melvin Barber; Leslie Innis; Emmit Hunt, African American Contributions to Sociology.
12. Goldhill, Olivia (November 15, 2016). "'We can feel sad, hurt, demoralized. But we can't give up': A Black Lives Matter founder on Trump's presidency". Quartz.
13. Garza, Alicia, "Herstory". Black Lives Matter. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
14. Queerness on the front lines of #BlackLivesMatter. MSNBC. February 19, 2015 (video).
15. "Angela Davis". CCCB. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
16. Haskins, James, Distinguished African American Political and Governmental Leaders. Oryx Press (1999), p. 67. ISBN 9781573561266,
17. "Frederick Douglass Biography : Journalist, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Government Official (c. 1818–1895)". Biography.com.
18. "Later Years and Death", Frederick Douglass Heritage. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
19. "SNCC passes the torch | The CLog". Creative Loafing Charlotte. February 29, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
20. Rafael, Vicente (11 February 2007). "David Fagen (1875–?)". Black Past.
21. Wang, Vivian (December 30, 2017), "Erica Garner, Activist and Daughter of Eric Garner, Dies at 27", The New York Times
22. Shipley, Alberta D.; Shipley, David O. (1976). The History of Black Baptists in Missouri. Missionary Baptist State Convention of Missouri. pp. 24–25, 227.
23. "Rosa Parks". www.history.com. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
24. "Booker T. Washington". www.history.com. Retrieved January 4, 2019.