List of African-American activists facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

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

List of activists

A

Thandiwe Abdullah, civil rights activist
Ralph Abernathy, civil rights activist and minister
Muhammad Ali, civil rights activist
Naomi Anderson, civil and women's rights activist
Maya Angelou, civil rights activist, writer, poet

B

Ella Baker, civil rights activist
Sarah Randolph Bailey, educator and Girl Scout pioneer
James Baldwin, civil rights activist, novelist, playwright
Marion Barry, civil rights activist, politician
Daisy Bates, civil rights activist, publisher, journalist, lecturer
Carl Bean, AIDS/HIV and LGBT activist and minister
Arekia Bennett, voting rights activist
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
Ralph Bunche, civil rights activist, scientist, academic, diplomat
Dorothy Burnham, civil rights activist
Louis Burnham, civil rights activist, journalist, editor of Freedom
Nannie Helen Burroughs, civil and women's rights activist, educator, religious leader and businesswoman

C

Melanie L. Campbell, voting rights activist
Beatrice Morrow Cannady, civil rights activist, publisher
Archibald Carey Jr., civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, politician, diplomat and clergyman
Bunchy Carter, civil rights activist
Christine Michel Carter, advocate for caregivers, specifically working mothers
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
Josie Brown Childs, civil right activist, civic leader
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
Anna J. Cooper, civil and women's rights activist, author, educator, sociologist, scholar
John Anthony Copeland Jr., abolitionist
Patrisse Cullors, civil rights activist, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement
Elijah Cummings, civil rights advocate

D

Angela Davis, civil rights activist, academic, and author
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
Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, black rights activist, women's rights activist, organizer – February 20, 1895
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
Charles Evers, civil rights activist
Medgar Evers, civil rights activist
Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights activist

F

David Fagen, civil rights and labor activist
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
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, civil rights activist
Nupol Kiazolu, civil rights and homelessness activist
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
Earl Lloyd, first African American NBA player (professional basketball player) Desegregated the NBA

M

Thurgood Marshall, civil rights activist, lawyer, judge
Benjamin Mays, civil rights activist, minister
Franklin McCain, civil rights activist
DeRay Mckesson, civil rights activist, podcaster
Floyd McKissick, civil rights activist, lawyer
John Berry Meachum, civil rights activist, educator, religious leader, involved in the Underground Railroad
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, anti-segregation activist
Bob Moses, civil rights activist, educator
Elijah Muhammad, civil rights leader
Khalid Abdul Muhammad, black nationalist leader, minister
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, activist, filmmaker
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
Lucy Parsons, activist, labor organizer
James Peck, civil rights activist
William Pleasant, Jr., 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, activist, political scientist

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, political activist and author
Cleveland Sellers, civil rights activist, educator
Betty Shabazz, civil rights activist
Al Sharpton, civil rights activist, minister
Mary Ann Shadd, anti-slavery activist, journalist, lawyer
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, civil rights and housing rights activist
Charles Kenzie Steele, civil rights activist
Charles Steele Jr., civil rights activist, politician
Bryan Stevenson, criminal justice reform activist
Tupac Amaru Shakur, black America activist, iniquity

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, political and social activist, entrepreneur, philanthropist
Wyatt Tee Walker, pastor, civil rights leader
Booker T. Washington, educator, founder of Tuskegee University
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, political activist, psychologist, scholar

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

All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:

List of African-American activists Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.