Learn about the influential figures who shaped the Civil Rights Movement. Discover the people who campaigned for social justice and equality, from Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King Jr.
| Leader | Actions | |
| Martin Luther King Jr. | Led Montgomery Bus Boycott, delivered “I Have a Dream” speech | |
| Rosa Parks | Refused to give up her bus seat, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott | |
| Malcolm X | Prominent civil rights activist and advocate for Black nationalism | |
| Thurgood Marshall | First African American Supreme Court Justice | |
| Medgar Evers | Civil rights activist assassinated in Mississippi | |
| Fannie Lou Hamer | Voting rights activist and co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party | |
| Ella Baker | Organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference | |
| James Farmer | Co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) | |
| John Lewis | Prominent civil rights leader and member of the Freedom Riders | |
| Diane Nash | Key organizer of the Freedom Riders | |
| A. Philip Randolph | Led the March on Washington movement | |
| Whitney Young Jr. | Advocate for equal opportunity in employment | |
| Bayard Rustin | Organized the March on Washington and advised MLK Jr. | |
| Ralph Abernathy | Co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with MLK Jr. | |
| Septima Clark | Pioneering educator and activist in citizenship schools | |
| Dorothy Height | Leader in women’s rights and equality | |
| James Bevel | Strategist and organizer of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade | |
| Fred Shuttlesworth | Civil rights activist in Birmingham, Alabama | |
| Andrew Young | Advisor to MLK Jr. and later Mayor of Atlanta | |
| Cesar Chavez | Advocate for farm workers’ rights | |
| Ella Baker | Influential civil rights activist and organizer | |
| Julian Bond | Co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) | |
| Stokely Carmichael | Leader of SNCC and proponent of Black Power | |
| Roy Wilkins | Executive Director of the NAACP | |
| Daisy Bates | Mentor and advisor to the Little Rock Nine | |
| James Meredith | First African American student at the University of Mississippi | |
| Robert Moses | Key leader in voter registration efforts | |
| Bob Moses | Organizer of the Freedom Summer project | |
| Septima Clark | Educator and civil rights activist | |
| Dorothy Height | Championed women’s rights and racial equality | |
| Martin Luther King Sr. | Civil rights leader and father of MLK Jr. | |
| Ella Baker | Advocate for grassroots activism and community organizing | |
| Joseph Lowery | Co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference | |
| Diane Nash | Leader in the Nashville sit-in movement | |
| Jim Lawson | Advocate for nonviolent resistance and strategist | |
| Jo Ann Robinson | Organizer of the Montgomery Bus Boycott | |
| Bayard Rustin | Organizer of the March on Washington and key advisor to MLK Jr. | |
| Myrlie Evers | Civil rights activist and wife of Medgar Evers | |
| Ella Baker | Leader in the fight for voting rights and grassroots organizing | |
| James Forman | Activist and organizer in the Black Panther Party | |
| Gloria Richardson | Leader in the Cambridge Movement in Maryland | |
| Diane Nash | Key strategist and organizer of the Freedom Rides | |
| Dorothy Cotton | Leader in voter registration efforts and citizenship education | |
| Claudette Colvin | African American teenager who refused to give up her bus seat before Rosa Parks | |
| Josephine Baker | American-born French entertainer and civil rights activist |
