# List of African-American activists

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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
* B
* C
* D
* E
* F
* G
* H
* I
* J
* K
* L
* M
* N
* O
* P
* Q
* R
* S
* T
* U
* V
* W
* X
* Y
* Z

### A

* 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
* 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
* 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, educatior, 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
* Al Sharpton, civil rights and social justice activist
* 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