Civil Rights

Civil Rights Activist

Spelman College and Yale Law School graduate, the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar (1964), founder of the Children's Defense Fund, and the first woman alum elected to the Yale University Corporation, Marian Wright Edelman has dedicated her life to advocating for children's rights and serving her community.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark legislation that formally ended segregation and dismantled the Jim Crow system by banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in various aspects of American life, including employment, education, and public accommodations.

Hedgeman (1899-1990) was a civil rights activist, educator, politician, author, founding member of the National Organization for Women, and was the first woman member on the administrative planning committee for the 1963 March on Washington. She reportedly recruiter over 40,000 marchers from the National Council of Churches.

In 1991, Harlins was murdered, shot in the back of the head from a distance of three feet by a Korean grocery store owner in Los Angeles, California.

On July 24, 1903, Maggie L. Walker became the first Black woman to serve as president of a U.S. bank, as well as the first woman founder of a U.S. bank, when she rallied members of the Independent Order of St. Luke to charter and capitalize the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia.

Investigative journalist who fearlessly investigated and exposed horrific realities of lynchings in the United States in the 1890s.

Oretha and her sister, Doris Jean Castle, were vital leaders of the civil rights movement in New Orleans.

This "parade" of 10,000 on 5th Avenue was one of the first major demonstrations by the African American community. It was organized by the NAACP to address violence and discrimination and most acutely, it was a response to the East St. Louis riots of 1917.

Sarah Louise Keys Evans' refusal to give up her bus seat led to a landmark Interstate Commerce Commission ruling that banned segregation in interstate travel. In 1952, Evans, a Women's Army Corps member on leave from Fort Dix dressed in full military uniform, boarded a Carolina Trailways bus in Trenton, New Jersey heading home to Washington, N.C. Around midnight in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, a new driver took over. The new driver went down the aisle to check tickets and ordered her to give up her seat to a white Marine, despite the 1946 Morgan v. Virginia Supreme Court ruling that banned segregation in interstate travel. When Evans refused, the new driver had all of the passengers except Evans depart the bus and move to a different bus.

Jackson was a civil rights activist, social worker, and journalist who played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Martin Luther King Jr's I Have a Dream speech took place.

Clayton is a retired broadcasting executive, talk show host, philanthropist and lifelong civil rights activist and leader. She worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. She has remained committed to honoring and advancing the cause of racial equality and empowering African American communities throughout her career.

King (1904-1975) was a formidable Civil Rights advocate, Choir Director, Musician, and mother of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Judge Motley (1921-2005) was a woman of firsts. She was the first Black woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, to serve as a federal court judge (Southern District of New York), and to sit in the New York State Senate. She was also the first woman to hold the office of President of the Borough of Manhattan. Earlier in her career she was a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense fund's first woman attorney. She also represented Dr. Martin Luther King and the Freedom Riders.