People
and Organizations
The following
is a list of people who made a significant impact on the Civil
Rights Movement. Included below are short biographies
and some important dates relevant to Black History Month.
Remember, there are many other people who made significant contributions
but it would be an impossible task to list them all. Use
the resource page
for more information.
Also click on the individual names for a more detailed account.
People: Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Eubie Blake, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks
Organizations: NAACP, SCLC,
1st Pan African Congress
The
People
Named
by his Mother as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, he picked
up the name Douglass several years later.
After learning the basics of reading and writing from one of
his owners, he began his self-education. Frederick Douglass
did much for the anti-slavery movement and was a forceful and
eloquent speaker as well. He published two newspapers,
the North Star and the New National Era. President
Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him to the post of U.S. Marshal
for the District of Colombia.
William
Edward Burghardt was an African American scholar, an early leader
in the 20th Century African-American protest movement
and an advocate of Pan-Africanism. His goal was to present
evidence to refute the myths of racial inferiority. In
1905 he was the founder and general secretary of Niagara movement,
an African protest group of scholars and professionals.
He was also among the founders of the NAACP. W.E.B. Du
Bois will be remembered as a poet, playwright, novelist, essayist,
sociologist, historian and journalist.
Hughes was
a prominent poetry and prose writer and had several publications.
Among them were The Weary Blues (1926), Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), and
his fist novel, Not Without Laughter (1930).
He wrote poems, essays, book reviews, song lyrics, plays, and
short stories. His work has been translated into over
a dozen languages, which earned him an international reputation
unlike any other African American writer.
Blake was
a composer and pianist. He published his first song in
1914 and met Noble Sissle who became his lyricist in 1915.
Together in 1921, they wrote their first Broadway show, the
famous all-black musical, Shuffle Along. Blake
helped to found the Negro Actor's Guild and was rediscovered
in the late 1960's and honored as an American original.
Eubie Blake performed in public almost until his death.
Mandela
was the South African statesman and president from 1994-1999.
He was the first president of a black-majority-ruled South Africa
and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He was elected
president of the African National Congress Youth League in 1951
and assumed the presidency of the AFC in 1991. On April
27th, 1994, during the first free elections open
to all South Africans, Mandela was elected president.
He was the leading political prisoner of the late 20th
Century (spending almost 3 decades as a prisoner) and one of
Africa's most important reformers.
Truth was
a slave who spoke out against racial oppression and acted on
her beliefs. Besides becoming a traveling preacher after
gaining her freedom, she was heavily involved in a succession
of religious movements. She was active in the Women's
Rights Suffrage Movement of 1851 and her most famous speech
"Ain't I a Woman?" is still talked about today.
Garvey was
the first person to forcefully articulate the concept of African
Nationalism, the idea of black people returning to Africa to
build a great nation of their own. He formed the Universal
Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and the African Communities
League. At the peak of the "Garvey Movement"
from 1922-1924 there were eight million followers making it
the greatest international movement of African peoples in modern
times. Garvey made famous the black star of Africa and
the red, black, and green flag of African Liberation.
Harriet
was a spy, nurse, feminist, and social reformer. She escaped
from bondage and for 16 years guided over 300 slaves to freedom
in the North by way of a secret network of safe houses later
called the Underground Railroad. She was known as the
"Moses of her people". She built the Harriet
Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People in 1908.
During World War II a liberty ship was christened the Harriet
Tubman in her honor. Tubman led so many people to
freedom and helped to undermine the institution of slavery.
A Civil
Rights Activist, Parks is well known for her refusal to give
up her seat to a white passenger on a racially segregated bus
in Montgomery, Alabama. Her action led to the successful
boycott of Montgomery buses by African-American riders.
She also worked with the NAACP Youth Council & the SCLC.
She served as a deaconess at the Saint Matthew African Methodist
Episcopal Church and was a public speaker that discussed her
role in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1988 she founded
the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development and
in July of 1999 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
Source:
Biography.com Resource Center & the Gale Group
The
Organizations
NAACP 1909-Present
The National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People stems from
the idea that all men and women are create equal. Despite
the threat of violence and racist government policies, the NAACP
has continued to persevere. Their goals are to fight intense
legal battles, address social injustices, and to organize nationwide
protests. They protested the introduction of segregation
into the Federal government, presented publicly the facts about
lynching, staged non-violent sit-ins, registered African-American
voters and vied for the admission of African-Americans into
institutions of higher learning. Without their presence
in society, a vast majority of social injustices would have
gone unnoticed and racial segregation allowed.
Source:
NAACP.com
SCLC
- Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Established
in 1957 by Martin Luther King, Jr., the goal of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference was to coordinate and assist
local organizations working for the full equality of blacks
in all aspects of American life. The organization played
a major part in the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. in
1963 and has kept a philosophy of non-violent social change.
Ex-leader Jesse L. Jackson set up a new organization with the
same purposes called Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity).
Source:
Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia
Organized
by African-American thinker and journalist, W.E.B. Du Bois,
the 1st Pan African Congress included 57 delegates
representing 15 countries. Among its first demands was
the idea that Africans should take part in governing their countries
"as fast as their development permits" until Africa
is granted home rule.
Source:
BBC
