Civil Rights Activists

Robert Sengstacke Abbott was born in 1870 on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Both of his parents were former slaves. His father, Thomas Abbott, died when he was an infant and his mother a German named John Sengstacke, the son of a German merchant and an American slave girl. Robert was sent to the Clafin University in Charleston, South Carolina for a short time before attending the Hampton Institute in Virginia. After college, he attended the Kent Law School in Chicago and received his law degree in 1899.

Abbott found it very difficult to practice law due to his race. He tried to start practices in Indiana, Illinois and Kansas with little success. He became increasingly convinced that he could do more good helping people through journalism than in the courtroom. He went home to learn that printing trade with his stepfather. In 1905, he returned to Chicago and set up printing equipment in the dining room of his landlady’s dining room. On May 5, 1905, he started the Chicago Defender. He sold 300 copies of his first four-page publication going door-to-door throughout the southside of Chicago.

For 15 years, Abbot struggled to keep his newspaper going. By 1920, he began to turn a profit. It became the largest African-American publication in the nation, with over 250,000 in circulation by 1929. The newspaper printed editorials demanding equality for blacks in America. The publication brought to the national spotlight the problems of segregation, discrimination and lynching. Many of the editorials encouraged blacks in the south to move to northern cities to find work and opportunities, sparking the Great Migration of the early 20th century.

Abbott died in 1940. His publication changed the course of American history. It sparked a great movement of people throughout the country into major cities. It fought for equal rights for all citizen in the country. The publication refused to use the words “Negro” or “black” in its articles because Abbott sought to unify all races. His contributions to civil rights through journalism and publication made him a great American.

Ralph Abernathy was born outside Linden, Alabama in 1926. He grew up on a farm and attended a Baptist School. In high school, he held his first protest to improve his science classroom, which he won. After high school, he enlisted in the United States Army during World War II and reached the rank of Platoon Sergeant.

After the war, he attended Alabama State University and earned a degree in mathematics in 1950. While he was in college, he was ordained a Baptist minister. Using his new position in the clergy and his desire for change, he led protests on campus about the lack of heat, hot water, and good food. After his graduation, he became the Personnel Direct of the university and later became a professor of social studies and mathematics. He became the first African-American to host a radio show in Montgomery, Alabama. He became the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery and earned his master's in sociology from Atlanta University. It was while in Montgomery that he met and became friends with a young Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1955, as an officer of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, Abernathy first organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott to protest the treatment and arrest of Rosa Parks. With the help of his friend Martin Luther King, Jr., the boycott was a success. Because of his actions, Abernathy's home was bombed in 1957, although none of his family was hurt. Abernathy and King met soon met in Atlanta to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King became its first president and Abernathy became its first treasurer.

Abernathy continued to be very active in the Civil Rights Movement throughout the south. Abernathy and King were active in Selma, Birmingham, Chicago, Memphis and Washington, DC. In 1962, Dr. King asked Abernathy to assume the Pastorate of the West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta. Between 1955 and 1968, Abernathy had his home bombed several times. He was arrest 44 times, beaten repeatedly and threatened because of his involvement in the movement. He never left the side of his friend Dr. King.

On April 4, 1968, Abernathy and King shared a hotel room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. At 6:01pm, Abernathy and King stood on the balcony when Dr. King was shot and killed. The previous day, Abernathy introduced King before he gave his final public address. There, Dr. King proclaimed, "Ralph Abernathy is the best friend I have in the world."

Abernathy took up the mantle of Dr. King. He assumed the presidency of the SCLC. He continued his civil rights fight for African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and various religious groups. In 1971, he addressed the United Nations on world peace and served on various organizations. He ran for Congress and endorsed Ronald Reagan for president. He received numerous awards, honorary doctorates and accolades for his work. Abernathy was a great American.

Richard Allen was born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1760. He and his family were sold to a Delaware farmer in 1767. At the age of 17, he converted to Methodism after hearing a Methodist preacher rail against slavery. His master also converted and allowed Allen and his brother to purchase their freedom. After they both purchased their freedom at $2,000 each, they returned to Philadelphia taking up odd jobs.

Allen joined an interracial Methodist church in Philadelphia, but became frustrated with the limitations that blacks had within the church. In 1787, Allen joined Reverend Absalom Jones to start the Free African Society to help the black community. In 1794, Allen and 10 other black Methodists started the Bethel Church, a precursor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1799, Allen became the first African-American to be ordained in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Using his leadership role in the church, Allen was able to use the church facilities as a stop on the Underground Railroad. In 1816, he founded the first national black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E. Church). He became its first bishop. In 1830, he started the Free Produce Society, an organization to promote an economic boycott of products produced with slave labor.

Today, the AME Church has more than 2.5 million members. Allen's vision of equal treatment for all and calls for the abolition of slavery have inspired future leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. Richard Allen was a great American.

Daisy was born in Huttig, Arkansas in 1914. At a young age, her mother was sexually assaulted and murdered by three white men and her father left her. She married Lucious C. Bates, a journalist and insurance agent, in the early 1940's. After their marriage, they moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.

The couple operated a weekly newspaper called the Arkansas State Press. The paper became a voice for civil rights even before the Civil Rights Movement had begun. In 1952, while editing the newspaper, Daisy was elected president of the Arkansas Conference of Branches, the umbrella organization of the state NAACP.

In wake of the landmark Supreme Court ruling "Brown v Board of Education," the Arkansas State Press began publicizing segregation violations by the state of Arkansas as well as its Board of Education. Daisy Bates help advise and direct nine students, known today as the "Little Rock Nine," to enroll into the all-white Little Rock Central High School. The governor of Arkansas called out the National Guard to stop the students from entering the school. Mobs of citizens met at the high school to threaten and harasses the students, activists and northern journalists who were covering the story. President Eisenhower took control of the Arkansas National Guard and sent the 101st Airborne Division to enforce desegregation.

On August 28, 1963, Bates became the only woman invited to speak at the Lincoln Memorial before the speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. Afterward, she moved to Mitchellville, Arkansas, an all-black community, to become the executive director of the community's Economic Opportunity Agency. She worked there for the next eleven years.

Daisy Lee Bates was an early voice for civil rights in the South. She helped force desegregation in Arkansas schools through her will and her words. She is recognized today as a champion for civil rights and opportunities for all Americans. She was truly a great American.

Nannie Helen Burroughs was born in 1878 in Orange, Virginia. Her father was a freeman Baptist preacher and her mother was born into slavery. When she was five, the Burroughs family moved to Washington, DC so that she could receive a better education. After high school, she went to work as a bookkeeper and editorial secretary for the National Baptist Convention (NBC).

In 1900, she attended the NBC Convention in Virginia. She gave a speech called, “How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping.” Her speech was so moving and inspirational that it gave Burroughs national recognition. He speech and her actions after the convention helps in the creation of the largest Black women’s organizations in the United States, the Women’s Convention, an auxiliary of the NBC. By 1907, the Women’s Convention had 1.5 million members.

In 1909, Burroughs founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, DC. The school’s mission was to help prepare students for employment in by offering courses in domestic science and secretarial skills. It offered other avenues for women such as farming, gardening, shoe repair, barbering, and other areas of skilled labor. She believed that industrial and classical education were compatible. She was a very strict principal of her school, demanding proper grammar and speech.

Burroughs became very active in the National Association of Colored Women, the National Association of Wage Earners, and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. She began speaking around the country about the civil rights of African-Americans and women. She became actively involved in the Republican Party. She appeared with Dr. Carter Woodson and Alain Locke on the importance of Negro history.

Late in her life, she became a supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Her entire life was devoted to her faith, education, and the civil rights of women and African-Americans. He hard work and influence on African-Americans throughout the country made her a great American.

Octavius Catto was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1839. Catto was brought by his father, a Presbyterian minister, to Philadelphia when he was young. Catto received an excellent education at The Academy in Allentown, New Jersey and the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia. Catto graduated from the Institute in 1858 as the valedictorian. He began teaching English Literature, Classical Languages and Higher Mathematics. He was also made assistant principal to Professor Ebenezer Bassett.

Catto founded both the Banneker Literary Institute and the Equal Rights League in 1864. He also started the Pythian Baseball Club, the finest team in the city. He was the best shortstop in Philadelphia. He belonged to the Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Library Company, the Fourth Ward Black Political Club, and the Union League Association.

During the Civil War, Catto staunchly supported the Union. He organized a group of his own students to form a black company of soldiers. Unfortunately, they were rejected by the state authorities of Pennsylvania. After the war, Catto worked with Frederick Douglass and James Purvis to push for equal rights. Catto proved to be a powerful and eloquent public speaker.

In October of 1870, Catto and his supporters were working to have a Republican candidate elected mayor of Philadelphia. The Democratic mayor, Daniel Fox, and other Democratic Party supporters, threatened any black person with violence if they attempted to vote in the elections. On October 10, 1870, Catto went to his voting precinct to cast his vote. Catto was shot three times and he died of his wounds. The man who shot Catto was never convicted of assault or murder.

In Catto's short life, he fought for the equal rights of African-Americans. He helped to organized blacks in Philadelphia to exercise their newfound freedom of suffrage. Catto became a martyr for freedom, and for this he is remembered as a great American.

Septima Poinsette Clark was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1898. Her father was a slave to a US politician who was the namesake of the Poinsettia plant. Her mother was a very strict woman who was determined to make her daughters were made into ladies. Clark grew up in a very strict environment. She was educated by an elderly woman in their neighborhood due to dissatisfaction with the public schools. She attended a private high school founded by missionaries from Massachusetts. After graduating high school, she became a school teacher on John’s Island in South Carolina.

During her teaching career, she taught rural black children as well as illiterate adults how to read. She was paid $35 dollars a week while white teachers in the public schools made $85 a week. She became involved in the civil rights movement over the issue of equal pay for teachers. She also decided to join the Charleston branch of the NAACP. The entire time she was fighting for civil rights in South Carolina, she was also able to earn her bachelor’s degree from Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina in 1942. She further studied at Columbia University in New York City and Atlanta University in Georgia during the summers. By 1945, she had earned her master’s degree from Hampton Institute in Virginia.

In 1956, the South Carolina legislature passed a law banning city and state employees from participating in civil rights organizations. She refused to leave the NAACP and she was fired after 40 years of teaching. She then became the director of workshops at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. It was one of the few interracial colleges in the south. She started a program to help students know how to fill out driver’s license exams, voter registration forms, and other types of governmental documents. One of the participants of her workshop was Rosa Parks. Many of the women that attended Clark’s workshops went on to participate in the civil rights movement throughout the south. Clark also started “Citizenship Schools” throughout the south, teaching adults how to read and knowledge of their constitutional rights. These schools were started as a reaction to the literacy tests that were required to vote for blacks in the south. Eventually, these programs were financed by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Thanks to her program, nearly 800,000 African-Americans in the south were able to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote. Clark became a member so of the executive board of the SCLC. Unfortunately, she had to fight sexism within the civil rights movement because there were so few women in prominent positions.

Clark retired in 1970 from active service in the SCLC. She later served two terms on the Charleston County School Board from which she was fired. President Jimmy Carter awarded her the Living Legacy Award in 1979 for her contributions to the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called her “The Mother of the Movement.” She died in 1987, but her contribution to education for African-Americans in the south help inspire future leaders for equality. Her contributions to civil rights and education for all made her a Great American.

John Robert Clifford was born in Williamsport, Virginia, which is now a part of West Virginia. His family were “free blacks.” Since there were no schools in the region for colored children, his parents sent him to Chicago to receive and education when he was a teenager.

In 1864, Clifford enlisted in the United States Colored Troops to serve for the Union in the Civil War. He served until the end of the war and earned the rank of corporal. After the war, he enrolled in the Storer College for colored people in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. The school had be created to educate freed blacks. After earning a degree, he became a teacher, then principal, at a segregated school in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

In 1882, Clifford started a nationally circulated newspaper called “The Pioneer Press.” The weekly newspaper dealing with African-American issues was one of the most popular in the country. In 1887, he became the first African-American to be admitted to the West Virginia Bar. He would practice law for the next 45 years.

In 1898, Clifford won a landmark civil rights case in the West Virginia Supreme Court called “Williams v Board of Education.” The Tucker County Board of Education decided to reduce the school year for colored students from nine months to just five months. Clifford argued for one of the teachers at the segregated schools. He won the case for equal educational opportunities for black students over 50 years before the famous “Brown v Board of Education” case desegregated the United States.

In 1905, Clifford became one of the founding members of the Niagara Movement. This organization was the precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Clifford was a national leader in the civil rights movement early in the 20th century.

When Clifford died in 1933, his remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery due to his service in the American Civil War. His contributions to the civil rights movement in the early 20th century laid the groundwork for the end of segregation in the 1950s. His contributions as a journalist, attorney, teacher and civil rights leader made him a great American.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. He never knew his mother because he was separated from her as an infant. It is also believed that his father was his master. He moved often in his early years before settling in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was twelve, the wife of his master taught him the alphabet even though it was against the law. He successfully learned to read from local white children. He began reading newspapers that published abolitionist views which strengthen his resolve that he must be free.

At the age of sixteen, young Frederick was sent to Edward Covey, who had a reputation as a "slave-breaker." He beat and whipped Frederick to break him of his independent thoughts. Eventually, Frederick fought back to the point that Covey never beat him again. Frederick had two unsuccessful attempts at escape, but he finally succeeded on September 3, 1838. He was dressed as a sailor and made his way from Maryland to New York City. He stayed in the safe house of abolitionist David Ruggles. Soon after, he married Anne Murray and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. There, he adopted the name "Douglass" to keep him hidden from bounty hunters.

Douglass began lecturing at local abolitionist meetings. The great abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison was so impressed with Douglass' speaking ability and the strength of his life's story that he wrote about him in "The Liberator," the largest abolitionist newspaper in America. In 1843, Douglass was asked to participate in an lecture tours with Garrison.

In 1845, Douglass published his first autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave." It was a bestseller in America and Europe. He began speaking in Europe of the plight of slaves in the United States. Supporters in Britain raised money to purchase his freedom in 1847. Afterwards, he returned to the United States a free man.

Upon his return, Douglass began publishing several abolitionist newspapers. His most famous publication was "The North Star." He also became an outspoken supporter of women's rights. In 1848, he attended the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

During the Civil War, Douglass became the most famous black man in America. He had meetings with President Abraham Lincoln about the treatment of black soldiers. He spoke with President Andrew Johnson about black suffrage. After the Civil War, he served as the president of the Freedman's Savings Bank. He would be appointed charge d'affaires to the Dominican Republic by President Ulysses S. Grant and later the Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti by President Benjamin Harrison. With this, he became the first African-American diplomat in American history. In 1872, he was nominated as the Vice Presidential running mate with Victoria Woodhull in the Equal Rights Party, a first for an African-American. In 1888, Douglass became the first African-American to receive a nomination vote for President of the United States at the Republican National Convention.

Today, Frederick Douglass is one of the most celebrated African-Americans in history. His home in Washington, DC was proclaimed a National Historic Site. He has been featured on a stamp by the US Postal Service. Numerous bridges, schools and public buildings are named in his honor. During this life, he served as US Marshal of the District of Columbia under President Rutherford B. Hayes and Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia under President James Garfield. A statue of Douglass stands prominently in the United States Capitol Building. He was one of America's greatest men.

Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi in 1925. He grew up on a farm and walked twelve miles to school to earn a high school diploma. He was drafted into the US Army during World War II and fought in France and Germany. After he received an honorable discharge in 1946, he returned to Mississippi and enrolled in Alcorn College (now Alcorn State University). He played on the football team, was a member of the debate team, and he was elected Junior Class President. He graduated from Alcorn with a degree in business administration.

Evers and his new wife moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi where he worked as a salesman for a life insurance company. He became the President of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL). While a member of the RCNL, he was trained in activism towards self-help and civil rights. In 1954, he applied to the University of Mississippi Law School and was rejected on account of his race. His rejection brought him national attention with the NAACP as they launched a campaign of desegregation in Mississippi. That same year, Evers became the first-ever field officer of the NAACP in Mississippi.

Evers moved to Jackson and began organizing boycotts of white merchants who practiced discrimination. His actions helped pave the way for the desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962 when James Meredith was the first black man to enroll. He became the target of death threats, and on one occasion a Molotov Cocktail was thrown into his home. On June 12, 1963, he was assassinated outside his home by a gunshot to the back of the head.

His death was mourned nationally. He was given full military honors and buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Bob Dylan wrote a song about his assassination entitled "Only a Pawn in Their Game." In 1970, the City University of New York opened the Medgar Evers College. In 1983, a made-for-television movie was created based on the events of his life. In 1996, a movie about his death and the prosecution of his killers was made entitled, "The Ghosts of Mississippi." Evers died for the cause of civil rights in the South. His story is one of a great American.

Charlotte Forten was born in 1837 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her entire family was devoted to the anti-slavery movement. She attended a local grammar school with white students and then attended Normal School in Salem, Massachusetts. She joined the Salem Anti-Slavery Society and began teaching. She became the first African-American teacher hired in Massachusetts to teach white students.

Forten became heavily involved in the anti-slavery movement. She arranged for lectures by prominent speakers such as William Lloyd Garrison, Senator Charles Sumner and Ralph Waldo Emerson. However, by 1858, she was forced to return to Philadelphia due to her tuberculosis. While recovering, she began writing poetry, much of which was published in the abolitionist publication “The Liberator.”

During the Civil War, Forten was the first black teacher to join in the Port Royal Experiment. When Union troops liberated several islands off the coast of South Carolina, schools were set up to begin teaching to freed slaves. She published her experiences there in the Atlantic Monthly. She also volunteered as a nurse for the Army.

When the war was over, she returned to Philadelphia for health reasons. She met her husband, Francis Grimke, at the age of 41 years. They moved to Washington, DC where Francis served as a pastor. She continued to chronicle her experiences up until her death in 1914. Her contributions to the abolition of slavery, journaling the experiences of the south and the education of freed blacks made her a great American.

Prince Hall was born a slave of William Hall in Boston around 1735. His early life is very unclear. It is believed that people in Boston helped Hall learn to read and that sometime around April, 1770, he was freed and living independently in Boston as a peddler, caterer and leather dresser. It is very possible that Hall fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. There are also records that suggest he crafted leather drumheads for a Boston Regiment of Artillery in April of 1777.

When he was fourteen, Hall and other freed blacks joined a British Army lodge of Masons who were stationed in Boston. When the British left, the freed blacks formed their own Masonic lodge and Prince Hall was their Grand Master. Using this position, he began to speak out against slavery and for the rights of blacks. He called for educating black children. Hall finally formed his own black school.

He began spreading black Masonic lodges throughout the United States. Lodges were established in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. After Hall's death, "Prince Hall Masonic Lodges" were established in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and in the Republic of Liberia.

Prince Hall was a great leader who tirelessly struggled with the legislature to recognize blacks as equals. He fought for worker's rights, equal education and the abolition of slavery. His efforts at the birth of the United States gives support of Prince Hall as a great American.

Fannie Lou Townsend was born the youngest of 20 children in Sunflower County, Mississippi in 1917. Her entire family were sharecroppers who picked cotton. She attended school for only six years before being forced to quit in order to help the family pick cotton. She worked as a cotton picker until the age of 27 when it was discovered by the plantation owner that she was literate. She was then moved to be a record keeper for the plantation. In 1945, she married Perry Hamer. She would continue to work on the plantation with her husband for the next 18 years.

During the 1950s, she attended several civil rights meetings throughout Mississippi. During this time in 1961, Hamer was forcibly sterilized while having a tumor removed. This procedure was a part of a plan, developed by the government of Mississippi, to reduce the number of poor blacks in the state. In 1962, she decided to register to vote with a group as they sang spirituals. Because of her actions, she was fired from the plantation.

Hamer then joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and began travelling throughout the south as a activist and literacy workshop organizer. In 1963, she was arrested in Winona, Mississippi and nearly beaten to death by police and inmates. After her release and recovery, she helped to organize the “Freedom Summer” initiative. She insisted that the initiative be multi-racial in nature. In 1964, she was elected the vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. This was a direct threat to the nomination of Lyndon Johnson for president in 1964. Hamer ran for Congress that same year, but was defeated. She continued to be active in politics during the 1968 elections.

Hamer was very involved in helping poor black families in the south. She advocated blacks coming together to farm in collectives instead of being beholden to white plantation owners. She died in 1977 from breast cancer. On her tombstone is one of her most famous quotes: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Since her death, books, songs, and a musical have been created in her honor. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She received an honorary doctorate from Tougaloo College and Shaw University. Her contributions to the plight of poor blacks in the south and the cause of equal rights have truly made her a Great American.

Francis Ellen Watkins was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1825 to free blacks. When she was three, she was orphaned and had to live with an aunt and uncle. She attended school at the Academy for Negro Youth, which was run by her uncle, Rev. William Watkins. While she was in school, she was exposed to a wide range of literature which greatly influenced her life. Her uncle was also a civil rights activist heavily influenced young Francis.

Francis began working as a seamstress at the age of 13, but she began writing poetry. By the age of 20, she wrote her first book of poetry, “Forest Leaves.” In 1850, she moved to Ohio to teach at Union Seminary. Soon after, she joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and started lecturing across the country. While on her lecture tour, she published her second book of poetry, “Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects.” This second publication was hugely successful.

At the age of 35, she married the widower Fenton Harper and had one child with him. She continued her tour of lectures against slavery and expanded her causes into prohibition and women’s suffrage. After the Civil War, she gave a stirring speech at the National Women’s Rights Convention in New York City. She read one of her most famous poems, “Bury Me in a Free Land.”

She continued to write poetry as well as authoring several books. She was a national organizer for the temperance movement as well as the women’s suffrage movement. When becoming dissatisfied with the priority of white women over black women, she helped to form the National Association of Colored Women in 1894. She served as the organization’s vice president three years later.

Francis Harper was a major advocate for the cause of freedom and equality in America. Her poetry helped to describe the feelings of the people involved. Her contributions in the late 19th century helped to make her a great American.

Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1912. Her family moved outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when she was just four. Throughout school, she was known as an exceptional student, even winning a national oratorical contest which earned her a $1,000 scholarship. Using the money, she enrolled in New York University and earned a bachelor degree and masters degree in educational psychology. She then moved on to Columbia University where she earned her Ph.D. in Social Work.

She began working as a caseworker for the city of New York. While working in this position, she joined the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and the as well as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). In both organizations, she took a leadership role in civil rights for black Americans as well as equal rights for women. On November 7, 1937, she met the founder and president of the NCNW, Mary McLeod Bethune. She worked closely with Bethune. By 1957, Height was elected the president of the organization, a position she would hold for the next 41 years.

As the president of the NCNW, she helped organize the 1963 March on Washington. She worked closely with Dr. Martin Luthur King, Jr. as well as other major civil rights leaders of the time. She did not receive much national attention for her efforts in the Civil Rights Movement because of her gender.

Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Height worked on international issues involving civil rights. She was a visiting professor at the University of Delhi in India. She was heavily involved in the Women’s Federation of the World COuncil of Churches. She worked with the Black Women’s Federation of South Africa for equal rights during the period of Apartheid.

Height was presented with the Citizens’ Medal Award by President Ronald Reagan in 1989. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton. She was honored in 2004 with the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2004, she was inducted into the Democracy Hall of Fame International in Washington, DC. She received the National Association of Social Works Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. After she passed away in 2010, her funeral services were held at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

Dorothy Height was known as the “Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement.” She championed equal rights in the United States and around the world. Her contributions behind the scenes during the Civil Rights Movement were instrumental in establishing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as numerous other acts and laws to help blacks and women in America have an equal chance of success. Dr. Height was truly a great American.

Theodore Roosevelt Howard was born in Murray, Kentucky. At an early age, Howard was noticed by a prominent local white doctor, William Herbert Mason, and hired him in his hospital. The doctor, a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, paid for Howard’s medical education at three different Adventist colleges. In 1930, while attending Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, Howard won the Anti-Saloon League National Orator-of-the-Year Award.

After graduating from medical school in 1931, he added the middle name “Mason” to his own to honor the doctor who helped him through his education. In 1942, he was appointed chief surgeon at the Hospital of Knights and Daughters of Tabor in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, a predominantly black community. While practicing medicine, he founded a restaurant, new hospital, construction firm, insurance company, and a large farm.

In 1955, he became involved in the Emmett Till Affair, involving a 14 year old boy who was accused of flirting with a white women. Till was murdered near Howard’s home. Dr. Howard then turned his house into a hub for reporters and investigators. Because of his actions, Dr. Howard received death threats and was forced to relocate to Chicago, Illinois.

While in Chicago, Dr. Howard ran for Congress as a republican and lost. Afterwards, he founded the largest privately owned black clinic in Chicago. He helped to raise money to help support the children of recently assassinated civil rights activist Malcolm X. Dr. Howard died in 1977, but left a legacy of philanthropy, entrepreneurship and activism. Dr. Howard was a truly Great American.

He was born James William Johnson in Jacksonville, Florida in 1871. He changed his middle name to Weldon later in life. His mother was the first black public school teacher in Florida. He went to high school where his mother taught and he fell in love with English literature and music. After graduating high school at the age of 16, he attended Clark Atlanta University and received his bachelor’s degree in 1894.

After college, Johnson became a principal at a grammar school in Jacksonville. While serving as principal, he founded “The Daily American” newspaper in 1895. He also studied law and in 1897, became the first African-American to pass the bar exam in Florida.

Soon after passing the bar, Johnson and his brother John, a composer, wrote the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. The song would later become the official anthem of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After composing the song, the Johnson brothers moved to New York City and would go on to write over 200 songs for Broadway musicals. James Johnson began studying literature at Columbia University. He also married Grace Nail, a prominent civil rights activist.

In 1904, he became involved in the Republican Party as a means to promote racial equality at a national level. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed James Johnson to diplomatic positions in Venezuela and Nicaragua. When he returned to the United States in 1914, he became involved with the NAACP. By 1920, he became chief executive of the organization. Using his status in the organization, he promoted development in the artistic community of New York City which would later be known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Johnson was also involved in writing during this time. He published several poems and books throughout the 1920s. By 1930, Johnson left the NAACP and returned to teaching. First, he accepted a position as chair of creative literature at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Four years later, he became the first African-American professor at New York University. He taught classes in both literature and culture.

Johnson taught up until his death in a car accident in 1938. He was a supporter of civil rights in America and expressed it in his music, poetry, stories and leadership in the NAACP. He served his country as a diplomat and served his community as a teacher. Johnson’s legacy to the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement made him a great American.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929. His father was the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. King's father spoke out against racial prejudice, leaving lasting impression. King attended Booker T. Washington High School and graduated at the age of fifteen. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta and received his degree in sociology in 1948. He then attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He was elected the student body president at the all-white seminary and graduated valedictorian in 1951.

King was accepted into Yale College and Edinburgh College of Scotland for his doctoral studies, but chose to attend Boston University. There, he met Coretta Scott, a singer and musician at the New England Conservatory. The two were married in 1953. While he was still working on his dissertation, he became the pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. At the age of 25 years, King earned his Ph.D.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus and was arrested. The head of the local NAACP contacted King and other civil rights leaders to plan a citywide boycott of the bus service. King was elected to lead the boycott and his tactics were innovative. The boycott of buses lasted 382 days. King's home was attacked and he was harassed by the white community. Finally, the city of Montgomery lifted is rules on segregating public transportation.

In 1957, King and 60 other ministers founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and an organization to promote civil rights reform through nonviolent action. Their first mass action was a voter registration drive of black voters in the South. In 1959, King traveled to India to visit the birthplace of Gandhi. The trip made an impact on King and his commitment to the civil rights struggle. He returned to the United States and, with the help of the SCLC, organized protests, sit-ins and demonstrations. King was arrested several times due these actions.

During his arrested in Birmingham, Alabama in early 1963, King composed what is today referred to as "Letters from Birmingham Jail." He outline his plans and hopes for social change in America. After being released, King and his supporters made plans for a massive march on Washington, DC. On August 28, 1963, over 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial. Many civil rights leaders gave speeches at this peaceful event, but it was the speech by Dr. King which made the biggest impact. Known today as the "I Have a Dream" speech, he outlined his hope for a future without racial barriers. The speech elevated the civil rights movement to a top political issue of the 1960's. In 1964, he was present at the signing of the Civil Right Act of 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson.

In 1965, King and the SCLC organized a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Due to police violence, the event was known as "Bloody Sunday" and was a major turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. That same year, King organized opposition to America's involvement in the Vietnam War. He organized marches and protests in Chicago in 1966 and launched his "Poor People's Campaign" in 1968 to address poverty in America.

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His legacy places him as one of the most influential figures in world history. His actions helped make civil rights a national issue in America. He helped inspire civil rights movements in Rhodesia and South Africa. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in 1957. He was named Time Magazine Man-of-the-Year in 1963. King became the youngest person in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. He became the first non-president and first African-American to have a national holiday set aside in his honor. Several buildings in Atlanta, Georgia have been proclaimed a National Historic Site in his honor. In 2011, King became the first non-president honored with his own memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Thousands of buildings, roads, bridges and offices throughout the world have been named in his honor.

In all of American history, no African-American has risen to the level of importance and impact as did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His actions, cut short by an assassin's bullet, created a profound change in American society. His leadership and devotion to brotherhood, non-violence and equality, are characteristics scarcely matched by anyone in our nation's history. King was not just an African-American who rose to a level of greatness, rather, he became an icon of freedom for oppressed peoples throughout the world.

James Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi of mixed African-American and Native American heritage. After graduating from high school, Meredith joined the Air Force and served for nine years. After his service in the military, he attended Jackson State University, a traditionally African-American institution.

In 1961, after two years at Jackson State, Meredith applied twice to the University of Mississippi, an all-white institution. Initially, he was accepted into the university, but when it was discovered that he was black, his admission was withdrawn. Since all public institutions were ordered to desegregate as a result of the Brown v Board of Education case, Meredith and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund filed suit in US District Court. His claim was that he was denied admission based on the color of his skin and not on any academic merits. The case was sent to the US Supreme Court and it was ruled that the university must admit him.

On September 20, 1962, Meredith tried to enroll into the university but he found the admissions office blocked. Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent 500 US Marshals to the campus. President Kennedy sent troops from the Mississippi National Guard to protect Meredith. On October 1, 1962, Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Nearly 160 US Marshals were wounded (28 by gunfire) while helping Meredith. Two people died, including a French journalist who was covering the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The students on the campus rioted, but Meredith was able to enroll. He graduated in 1963 with a degree in political science despite being repeatedly harassed and threatened.

After college, Meredith started a solitary "March Against Fear" from Memphis to Jackson to protest racism. Soon after beginning his march, he was shot. His march was taken up my Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Floyd McKissick.

Eventually, Meredith became a stockbroker in New York City. He joined the Republican Party and unsuccessfully ran for Congress on several occasions. For three years, he served as a domestic adviser to Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

James Meredith risked his life in the cause of civil rights. His admittance to the University of Mississippi was a major turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. His actions will forever make him considered a great American.

Pauli Murray was born in 1910 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was a schoolteacher and her mother was a nurse. Her mother died when she was three years old and her father became ill with typhoid fever. She was sent to live with her mother’s family in Durham, North Carolina. When she was 16 years old, she graduated from high school with honors and moved to New York City to live with a cousin. There, she was able to enroll at Hunter College.

Murray was forced to drop out of school due to the Wall Street Crash of 1929. She began working for the Works Projects Administration as a teacher in New York City. She began writing poetry and articles that were published in several different magazines. She picked up a job selling subscriptions to an academic journal, “Opportunity,” published by the National Urban League. She also became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1930s.

In 1938, she became involved in a campaign to enter the all-white University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She had the backing of the National Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and her cause gain national publicity. During the campaign, she met First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Later, Murray became a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and was active in trying to stop segregation on Virginia busses. She was arrested and imprisoned in 1940 for refusing to sit at the back of a bus in Richmond.

In 1941, she enrolled at Howard University in Washington, DC with the intention of becoming a lawyer. While a student at Howard, Murray joined with three men to create the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). CORE was mainly influenced by Henry David Thoreau and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi with regard to nonviolent civil disobedience. In 1943, she published two essays on civil rights. She also published a poem titled “Dark Testament,” about race relations. She graduated from Howard in 1944 and applied for a Rosenwald Fellowship to Harvard University. After receiving the award, her application to Harvard was rejected due to her gender despite a letter of support from President Franklin Roosevelt. Instead, she enrolled at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley and received her law degree. Her thesis was entitled “The Right to Equal Opportunity in Employment,” in which she argued that the right to work is an inalienable right. She passed the California Bar Exam in 1945.

Murray became California’s first black deputy attorney general in 1946. That same year, the National Council of Negro Women named her “Woman of the Year.” She was also lauded in Mademoiselle Magazine. In 1951, she published “States’ Law on Race and Color.” Thurgood Marshall, head of the legal department for the NAACP, described the book as the “Bible for civil rights lawyers.” In 1956, she published a biography of her grandparents and their struggles with prejudice. She travelled to Ghana to explore her African roots. When she returned, President John F. Kennedy appointed her to his Committee on Civil and Political Rights. She worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders at the time, but became increasingly frustrated by the male-dominated leadership of the cause. She gave a speech in Washington, DC titled “Jim Crow and Jane Crow,” outlining the struggles of black women in the civil rights movement.

In 1966, she became the co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and argued that the Fourteenth Amendment applied to sexual discrimination as well as racial discrimination. In the brief for the landmark Supreme Court case “Reed v Reed,” future justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg added Murray as co-author for the brief. In 1973, she became a professor at Brandeis University, introducing African-American Women’s Studies to the curriculum. In 1977, she entered seminary and after only three years of study, became the first African-American woman ordained a priest.

Rev. Dr. Murray died in 1985 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2015, Murray’s home in Durham was named a national treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 2016, Yale University announced that they would be naming two new residential colleges on their campus. One was named Benjamin Franklin College and the other was named Pauli Murray College. Her work in with civil and gender rights in the United States made Murray a Great American.

Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama and was raised on a farm outside the city of Montgomery. She attended school until her teenage years when she had to drop out to take care of her ill mother and grandmother when then became ill.

After caring for her family, Rosa found a job in Montgomery in a shirt factory. In 1932, she married a barber named Raymond Parks who was an active member of the local NAACP. Her new husband encouraged her to go back to school. In 1933, she earned her high school equivalency. Now armed with an education, she became involved in the civil rights movement in Alabama by becoming the secretary to the Montgomery Chapter president of the NAACP.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks made history. After a long day at work at a department store, she boarded a bus on Cleveland Avenue for home. The buses in Montgomery were segregated and she took a seat in the first of several rows designated for "colored" passengers. Montgomery bus drivers had a custom of forcing black passengers to give up their seats to white passengers when no other seats were available. When the bus began filling up with white passengers and she was told to move for a white person, she refused. The police were called and she was arrested.

Her refusal to move on the bus inspired the local NAACP Chapter to organize a boycott of the city bus service. Black citizens were encouraged to stay home from work or school. A group of local leaders formed the "Montgomery Improvement Association," which launched Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. into the civil rights spotlight. The boycott took place four days after Rosa Parks' arrest. It crippled the bus company's finances. Violence ensued with black homes and churches were burned. The Civil Rights Movement was born.

In 1996, Rosa Parks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Her actions on a bus in Montgomery sparked a movement that forever changed America and improved the lives of countless minorities. Throughout her life, she suffered many hardships due to her actions on that December day. Her act of defiance in the face of racism made Rosa Parks a great American.

She was born Mary Ellen in Augusta, Georgia around 1812. She was sometimes known as "Mammy" Pleasant. Very little is known about her life except that she was born a slave somewhere in Georgia. There are stories that she was a descendant of a Voodoo Queen from Santo Domingo. There many wildly divergent stories about her early life, however, it is clear that as she became older, she was involved in the Underground Railroad movement.

Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, she helped smuggle hundreds to slaves from the South to Canada. She became very effective because she was very fair-skinned and often dressed in disguise to help slaves escape from bondage. She married John James Pleasant in the late 1840s. When things became too dangerous for her, she escaped by catching a ship that sailed around Cape Horn to arrive in San Francisco in 1852. When she arrived in San Francisco, she passed as a white woman and began running exclusive restaurants in the town. She met Thomas Bell, a Scottish immigrant who worked at a bank. Together, the amassed a small fortune. Using their money, she made San Francisco a link in the Underground Railroad. In 1857, she returned to the east to help John Brown in his cause. She purportedly gave Brown $30,000 to help him in his cause, but he was captured and killed at the Harper's Ferry Armory.

After the Civil War, she changed her designation in the city registry from "white" to "black.' She then began to fight the city in court about their laws prohibiting blacks from riding trolleys. In 1866, she won a case that helped bring an end to segregation on city transportation. With this victory, she earned the title, "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" in California nearly 100 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up a seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Much of her life remains a mystery to this day. Her partnership with Thomas Bell made the two worth $30,000,000, but after his death, she became penniless. Her devotion to the Underground Railroad and the cause of civil rights in the late 1800s helped pave the way for the people like Rosa Parks. Her work in these areas make her a great American.

Sam Scott was born a slave in Southampton County, Virginia around 1799. He was owned by am named Peter Blow. When Sam's older brother Dred Scott died, Sam changed his named to Dred to honor his brother. The Blow family moved to Alabama and then Missouri. After Peter Blow died in the early 1830's, Dred Scott was sold for $500 to a US Army doctor named John Emerson. Dr. Emerson was stationed at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1833, Dr. Emerson was ordered by the Army to move to Rock Island, Illinois. Despite the fact that Illinois was a free state, Dred Scott did not petition for his freedom. In 1836, Dr. Emerson was transferred to Fort Snelling in the free territory of Wisconsin Territory. Again, Dred Scott did not sue for his freedom. In 1837, he was transferred back to St. Louis and Dred Scott was once again in a slave state.

Dr. Emerson left the Army to live and practice medicine in St. Louis. However, in 1843, Dr. Emerson suddenly died and the ownership of Scott was transferred to his wife, Irene Emerson. Dred Scott tried to buy his freedom from the widow, but she refused. In April of 1846, Dred Scott filed a petition in St. Louis Circuit Court to gain his freedom. The basis of Scott's argument was that he was a resident of two places within the United States that did not allow slavery. He obtained legal representation from local abolitionist lawyers in St. Louis. It was held that Dred Scott should be free because he was being illegally held as a slave in a free state. Irene Emerson appealed the case. In 1852, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the ruling of the lower court and Dred Scott was once again Irene Emerson's slave.

According to Missouri law, after the death of Dr. Emerson, the estate was to be transferred to his wife's brother, John Sanford of New York as the executor of the estate. Because Sanford was a citizen of a different state, Scott's lawyers were able to successfully sue in Federal Court because a dispute of ownership between two or more states would fall under the federal jurisdiction.

In 1854, Dred Scott obtain a new set of lawyers. One of his lawyers was Montgomery Blair, a staunch abolitionist and future Postmaster General under President Abraham Lincoln. The new lawyers filed suit against John Sanford as the executor of the Emerson estate. The Federal District Court of Missouri found in favor of John Sanford and Scott's lawyers appealed to the US Supreme Court.

On March 6, 1857, after eleven years of initial suits, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 against Dred Scott. Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled that slaves are not citizens of the United States and therefore have no right to sue in Federal Courts. The case became a landmark Supreme Court case that ruled the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as unconstitutional. The high court stated that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery. Dred Scott would eventually be granted his freedom when Irene Emerson married abolitionist Congressman Calvin Chaffee. Dred Scott went to work as a porter in St. Louis until he died 17 months after obtaining his freedom.

Dred Scott's fight for his freedom had a profound effect on the nation. The ruling by the Supreme Court enraged northern states. Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass spoke out against slavery and sited the Dred Scott case in their speeches. The Dred Scott case helped to spark the Civil War that would eventually end slavery. Dred Scott’s fight for his freedom made him a great American.

William Still was born in Burlington County, New Jersey in 1821. He was the youngest of 18 children. In 1844, Still moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began working for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. In the society, he became the chairman of a committee to aid runaway slaves.

He is known as the "Father of the Underground Railroad." He helped establish a network of abolitionists, safe houses and sympathizers all the way from the South to Ontario, Canada. Still kept meticulous records of the runaway slaves, identifying who they were, where they were from, and where they would go. He made a vow that their stories would not be forgotten. Still helped over 800 slaves find their way to freedom. After the Civil War in 1872, he published a book on the stories of these runaways. He helped finance his efforts by becoming a successful business owner in Philadelphia.

Today, much of what we know about the Underground Railroad comes from his records. After the war, Still helped establish black orphanages and helped to organize the first black YMCA in Philadelphia. He lectured and spoke about his experiences with helping save the lives of slaves. His efforts in the Underground Railroad made him a great American.

Mary Morris Burnett was born in Oberlin, Ohio in 1866. She graduated high school at the age of 16 and enrolled at Oberlin College. She earned a literary bachelor’s degree in 1886. After graduation, Burnett took a teaching position at Bethel University in Little Rock, Arkansas. After just one year at the university, she became the first African-American woman to be selected Assistant Principal of Little Rock High School. Four years later, she was forced to resign due to her marriage to William Talbert, a businessman from Buffalo, New York. The couple moved to New York.

Upon arriving in Buffalo, she became one of the founding members of the Phyllis Wheatley Club of Colored Women, an affiliate of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). She also became greatly involved in the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church. In 1901, she started the Christian Culture Club. In 1905, Talbert held a secret meeting in her house with nearly 30 black leaders around the country. Her meeting became the first meeting of the Niagara Movement, a forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Talbert became one of the first women to join the NAACP after it was founded in 1909. In 1916, she became the president of the NACW and the vice president of the NAACP.

In 1917, the United States entered World War I. She became one of a handful of black Red Cross nurses to serve on the front during the war in Europe. When she returned to the United States, she continued her work in civil rights and women’s rights. She travelled back to Europe to lecture on women’s rights in 11 different countries. She served as a delegate to the International Council of Women in Christiania, Norway in 1920. She became a vocal advocate of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill introduced in 1919 by Missouri Congressman Leonidas Dyer. In 1922, she organized a national fundraising effort to purchase and restore the home of Frederick Douglass in Anacostia, Maryland. She was named President-for-Life of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.

Talbert died in 1923. The year before her death, she became the first woman to win the prestigious NAACP Spingarn Award. She was named First Worthy Matron of Naomi Chapter #10 of the Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star Masons. She was responsible for selecting female nominees for positions in the League of Nations. She raised thousands of dollars by selling Liberty Bonds for support of the war effort during World War I. She was called, “the best known colored woman in the United States” during her time. Her fight for equal rights during the progressive era made her a Great American.

Mary Church was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1863 to former slaves. Her father became one of the wealthiest African-Americans in America after the Civil War due to investing in real estate. She was sent to Yellow Springs, OH to a private school for her education. When she completed high school, she enrolled at Oberlin College where she majored in the classics. Despite being one of the few African-American women at the college, Church was elected to two of the college's literary societies and became the editor of the Oberlin Review.

After earning her bachelor's degree, she began teaching languages at Wilberforce University. She then moved to Washington, DC and taught language arts at a black secondary school. Church then left the United States and toured Europe. When she returned, she completed a master's degree from Oberlin College in 1888. Afterwards, she married Robert Terrell, a lawyer and first black municipal court judge in the District of Columbia.

Mary Church Terrell became very active in the National American Woman Suffrage Association and loudly voiced her concerns about black women in America. In 1896, she became the first president of the newly formed National Association of Colored Women. There, she worked for educational and social reform across America. She became the first black woman appointed to the District of Columbia Board of Education. At the suggestion of W.E.B. DuBois, she was made a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Throughout her career, Mary Church Terrell was an active political organizer against Jim Crow Laws, lynching, poor educational opportunities for blacks and suffrage for women. One of the last acts of her life was a three-year campaign to end segregation at eating places and hotels in Washington, DC.

She died in 1954 in Washington, DC. However, she lived long enough to see the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision end segregation in America. Her contributions to the nation and tireless fight for civil rights made her a great American.

Howard Thurman was born in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1899. He was raised by his grandmother, a former slave. He was sent to live in Jacksonville, Florida to attend high school. Afterward, Thurman attended Morehouse College and graduated valedictorian in 1921. He became an ordained Baptist minister in 1925 after attending divinity school in Rochester, New York.

After serving as a pastor for a short time in Oberlin, Ohio, he enrolled in Haverford College in Pennsylvania to study philosophy. He studied under the noted Quaker pacifist Rufus Jones. He began to adopt a philosophy of nonviolent social activism. In 1932, Thurman became the first dean of the Rankin Chapel at Howard University. He was honored in 1935 with the chance to travel to India to meet Mohandas Gandhi as a part of the "Negro Delegation of Friendship." His meeting with Gandhi changed his life and solidified his belief in nonviolence.

In 1944, he left Howard University to establish the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. There, he co-pastored with a white man, Dr. Alfred Fisk. In 1949, he wrote his seminal work, "Jesus and the Disinherited." The book deeply influenced a young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. King's father was a friend and classmate of Thurman while at Morehouse College. In 1958, Thurman was invited to become the first black dean of the Marsh Chapel at Boston University.

Thurman continued contact and ministerial advice with Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. He became one of King's most important mentor's during his rise as a civil rights leader. Thurman helped Dr. King throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Thurman was named one of the 50 most influential African-Americans in the history of the United States by Ebony Magazine. In 1953, Life Magazine named Thurman one of the 12 most influential religious leaders in America. His work and his influence over the civil rights movement and nonviolent movement made him a great American.

She was born Isabella Baumfree sometime around 1797 in Ulster County, New York. She was born into slavery the daughter of an African father and a first-generation African-American mother. Her owner was Colonel Charles Hardenbergh. The Hardenberghs and Baumfrees all spoke Dutch because New York was once under the control of the Netherlands. In 1806, when Col. Hardenbergh died, Isabella was sold at an auction for a flock of sheep and $100. She was sold two more times over the next two years until she came under the ownership of John Dumont of West Park, New York. It was during this time that she first learned English.

In 1826, Isabella escaped to freedom with her infant daughter. She left her son and another daughter behind. On July 4, 1827, the state of New York emancipated all slaves and abolished the practice. However, Dumont had sold her five year old son to a man in Alabama. The sale was illegal under New York law. With the help of a local Quaker, she took the case to court and won her son's freedom. It was one of the first cases in American history where a black woman successfully challenged a white man in court.

She returned to New York City with her son and converted to Christianity. In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth because she said she was instructed to do so by the Holy Spirit and that she was to become a travelling preacher. In 1844, she joined an abolitionist group in Massachusetts and met abolitionist leaders William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. In 1850, Garrison helped her publisher her memoirs, "The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave." That same year, she spoke at the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts.

In 1851, Sojourner spoke at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Her speech, later titled, "Ain't I a Woman" became a rallying cry for women's rights in America. Her speech was published and became a sensation. After her Akron speech, she toured Ohio for the next two years with abolitionist Marius Robinson. She became more and more critical of the abolitionist movement's failure to ensure black women's rights.

When the Civil War erupted, Sojourner actively help recruit black soldiers. She met with President Abraham Lincoln and helped contribute to the National Freedman's Relief Association. After the war, she worked on desegregation efforts in Washington, DC. She lobbied Congress for prison reform, suffrage, and women's rights. She met with President Ulysses S. Grant about reforms for blacks in America as well as suffrage for women.

Sojourner Truth was a controversial and fiery advocate for the rights of African-American and women. She spoke throughout the nation about her causes, lobbied governments for reforms, and preached her Christian values to any who would listen. She was a woman on a mission and her efforts made her a great American.

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross sometime around 1820 in Dorchester County on the eastern shore of Maryland. She was born into slavery. Her siblings were sold to distant plantations and her family was broken. She suffered physical injuries during her youth from beatings and lashings. Her most severe injury was being struck in the head by a two-pound weight for refusing to help restrain a runaway slave. Due to that particular injury, she suffered seizures, severe headaches and narcolepsy for the rest of her life.

In 1844, Tubman married a free black man named John Tubman. She changed her name to "Harriet" around this time in order to honor her mother. Several years later in 1849, Harriet escaped slavery with two of her brothers after the death of their owner and made her way to Philadelphia. A reward of $300 was posted for her capture.

Tubman decided not to stay in the north for long. Her escape was made possible by the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses to help escaped slaves find their way to freedom. She would begin to use this network in 1850 to help free slaves in the South. Her first rescue was of her niece Kessiah and her family. She helped guide her parents, other siblings and over 60 people to freedom.

Things became complicated with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law. This law allowed for the capture of slaves in northern territory and returned to the South. In response to the law, Tubman changed the Underground Railroad to go into Canada. On one of her trips, there is evidence that she stopped at the home of the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In 1858, she met the abolitionist John Brown, who advocated the use of violence to destroy slavery. Brown recruited Tubman to help in his plans to attack the armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia.

During the Civil War, Tubman helped in the Union effort. She became a cook and a nurse. She also had assignments as an armed scout and a spy. She helped recruit freed slaves into the army to help fight for the North. She became the first woman to lead an armed expedition into war in American history. Her efforts in the Combahee River Raid led to the liberation of over 700 slaves in South Carolina. She was hailed in northern newspapers as a patriot and a hero.

After the war, she moved to Auburn, New York to a piece of land that was given to her by the Senator William H. Seward, the future Secretary of State under President Lincoln. She became active in the cause of women's suffrage and worked alongside women such as Susan B. Anthony and Emily Howland. She was the keynote speaker at the first meeting of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in 1896.

Harriet Tubman is considered one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. She has been honored all over the world as a great leader and liberator. She was fearless in the face of danger and her devotion to her mission to save people makes her not only one of the greatest African-Americans, but simply one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.

Ida B. Wells was born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. She was freed one year later by the Emancipation Proclamation. Both of her parents worked for the advancement of blacks. She attended Rust College, a school for freed blacks, in Holly Springs, but was expelled for rebellious behavior. At the age of sixteen, she lost both of her parents to Yellow Fever. In 1878, she convinced a school administrator that she was 18 years old and gained a position as a teacher. In 1882, she moved with her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee and was able to continue her education at Fisk University in Nashville.

Her life changed in 1884. She was boarding a train from Memphis to Nashville with a first-class ticket. Wells was told that she had to ride in the black train car instead. She refused to move and was forcibly removed from the train. She sued the railroad, but lost her case in the Tennessee Supreme Court. Because of this event, she was motivated to start writing about the racial injustices in the South under the pen name "Iola." Wells gained a national audience and soon became co-owner of the Memphis newspaper "Free Speech and Headlight."

In 1892, three African-American friends of Wells were arrested for killing white vandals of their grocery store. They were arrested, but never had a chance to defend themselves because they were lynched by a white mob in the jail cells. Wells-Barnett put her own life at risk by writing articles condemning lynching in the South. Whites in Memphis destroyed her offices while she was in New York City. They threatened to kill her if she ever returned to Memphis again.

In New York, she continued to write reports about lynching in America. She lectured in the United States and abroad about the plight of blacks in America. Her efforts were funded by famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In 1896, she co-founded the National Association of Colored Women. By 1898, she moved to Washington, DC and campaigned for President William McKinley to make reforms. She was also involved in the NAACP.

In the 20th Century, she worked on behalf of women's rights in America. She helped create the first African-American kindergarten. She ran, unsuccessfully, for public office. All the while, she continued her efforts to write about the problems of racism in America.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a great female champion of civil rights in America. Her experiences in the South inspired her to take up the pen in the cause of equal rights. She refused to give up her seat 60 years before Rosa Parks did in Montgomery, Alabama. Her story is one of a great American.

Whitney Young, Jr. was born in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky in 1921. His father was the president of the Lincoln Institute and also served as president of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association. His mother was the second-ever postmaster in the United States. At the age of 13, Young enrolled at his father’s institute and graduated valedictorian in 1937.

After high school, Young attended the Kentucky State Industrial College and earned a bachelor’s degree in social work. While at Kentucky State, he was elected president of his senior class in 1941. After college, he enlisted in the US Army and trained in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then served as a first sergeant assigned to road construction that was supervised by white soldiers. The animosity be the black and white soldiers became a problem for Young, but he was able to mediate the tension between the two groups.

During the war, he married his college sweetheart, Margaret Buckner. Both went on to the University of Minnesota where he earned his master’s degree in social work. It was there that he became involved in the National Urban League and was appointed the industrial relations secretary of the St. Paul branch. In 1950, he became the president of the National Urban League’s Omaha chapter. There, we worked to get job opportunities for blacks in the city. While in Omaha, he taught at the University of Nebraska and at Creighton University. In 1954, he became the dean of social work at Atlanta University. He continued to work in civil rights and became the head of the state branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1961, Young was appointed the executive director of the National Urban League. The League was in financial turmoil, but through Young’s leadership and support of prominent white businessmen, he save the League from bankruptcy.

In 1963, the League became a co-sponsor of the 1963 March on Washington. He urged the League to racially integrating their staff in order to help promote integration in the private sector. He became a close advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He pushed for federal aid to cities in his “Domestic Marshall Plan.” His plan called for $145 billion in spending over a 10 year period that would become a part of Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” He described the details of his plan in two books, “To Be Equal,” published in 1964 and “Beyond Racism,” published in 1969. He also had a popular syndicated newspaper column published nationally.

Young died in 1971 while attending a conference in Lagos, Nigeria. He spent his career working to end discrimination in the workplace as well as organizing the National Urban League into one of the most reputable civil rights organizations in American history. His contributions to the Civil Rights movement made Young a Great American.