African-American Leaders

Links to pages about Martin Luther King and other prominent African-American leaders.

Civil Rights Movement Heroes - Article covers Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, and the Little Rock Nine.

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Probably the best-known figure in the Civil Rights movement, King was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis.

Ralph Abernathy - Ralph Abernathy took a leading role in the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Mary McLeod Bethune - Child of former slaves who became an educator and civil rights leader, including president of the NAACP.

Frederick Douglass - American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. Born in 1818 as a slave, died in 1895.

W.E.B. DuBois - Massachusetts native; was an American civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. Founder of the NAACP.

Jesse Jackson - Civil rights activist and minister, former presidential candidate, founder of RainbowPUSH Coalition

John Lewis - Helped plan the March on Washington in 1963 and was a keynote speaker. Served as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966.

Thurgood Marshall - First African-American Supreme Court justice, appointed in 1967. He was already well-known for his prominent role as an attorney in major civil rights cases.

Rosa Parks - The central figure in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-1956. The true story behind her not giving up a seat on the bus is much more involved and interesting than many know.

Booker T. Washington

Malcom X - A street hustler who became a black nationalist leader, Malcolm X converted to Islam while in prison. He was assassinated in 1965.