Most Influential Deceased Civil Rights Activists
by Breumaster | created - 18 Jul 2020 | updated - 01 Aug 2020 | PublicWe are sad to hear that on July 17th, 2020, John Lewis and C.T. Vivian, two of the most influential civil rights activists, died. They are from the old guard and marched together with Martin Luther King. With this poll we honor them and the many other deceased civil rights activists around the world.
Which of the gone civil rights heroes is your favorite?
Put your condolences here.
1. John Lewis
Self | John Lewis: Good Trouble
John Lewis was born on February 21, 1940 in Troy, Alabama, USA. He was married to Lillian Miles. He died on July 17, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Lewis fought for equality of black and white people.
2. C.T. Vivian
Actor | Being Mary Jane
C.T. Vivian was born on July 28, 1924 in Boonville, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Being Mary Jane (2013), The Quad (2017) and Shared Legacies (2020). He was married to Octavia Geans and Jane Teague. He died on July 17, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Vivian, a priest, fought for equality of black and white people.
3. Martin Luther King
Soundtrack | Freedom Writers
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Alberta Christine (Williams), a schoolteacher, and Martin Luther King Sr. a pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. For Martin the civil rights movement began one summer in 1935 when he was six ...
King, a pastor, fought for equality of black and white people.
4. Malcolm X
Writer | Malcolm X
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, one of seven children. His father, Earl Little, was a Baptist preacher who supported Marcus Garvey's Back to Africa movement. When Malcolm was four, the family moved to Lansing, Michigan, where Earl attempted opening a store ...
Malcolm X fought for equality of black and white people.
5. Mohandas K. Gandhi
Music_department | Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) was born on October 2, 1869, into a Hindu Modh family in Porbanadar, Gujarat, India. His father, named Karamchand Gandhi, was the Chief Minister (diwan) of the city of Porbanadar. His mother, named Putlibai, was the fourth wife; the previous three wives ...
Gandhi fought for India's independence from the United Kingdom.
6. Emmeline Pankhurst
Self | What 80 Million Women Want
Emmeline Pankhurst was born on July 15, 1858 in Moss Side, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK. She was married to Richard Pankhurst. She died on June 14, 1928 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.
Emmeline Pankhurst fought for English women's rights to vote in elections.
7. Sophie Scholl
Sophie Scholl was born on May 9, 1921 in Forchtenberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She died on February 22, 1943 in Stadelheim Prison, Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
Sophie and Hans Scholl fought together for free speech while the Nazis reign supreme. So this option is also for Hans. In selfmade flyers they called upon to make a clear decision against the NSDAP, the National Socialistic German Workers' Party.
8. Elijah Cummings
Self | Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy
Elijah Cummings was born on January 18, 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was married to Maya Cummings. He died on October 17, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
was an American politician and civil rights advocate who served in the United States House of Representatives for Maryland's 7th congressional district from 1996 until his death in October of 2019.[1] ... Cummings served as the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform from January 2019 until his death in October of that year.
9. Nelson Mandela
Writer | Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (July 18, 1918 - December 5, 2013) was the former leader of the African National Congress (ANC). He was known for his lifelong struggle against apartheid (enforced racial separation), which was instituted in South Africa in 1948. The ANC was soon declared a terrorist ...
Mandela fought against Apartheid in South Africa.
10. Harvey Milk
Actor | Chafed Elbows
Harvey Milk was born on May 22, 1930 in Long Island, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Chafed Elbows (1966), Queer Serial: American LGBTQ+ History (2017) and News Talk (1977). He died on November 27, 1978 in San Francisco, California, USA.
Milk fought for gay people's rights.
11. Alice Paul
Alice Paul is an American socialist, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote. Paul initiated, and along with Lucy ...
Suffragette, she fought for the 19th amendment to the constitution, which allows women to vote in the USA in 1920.
12. Rosa Parks
Self | Touched by an Angel
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 - October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom ...
In the 1950s, she denied a white person sit on her seat in the bus and therewith started the bus boycott of Montgomery, which helped overcome the Jim Crow laws by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
13. Harriet Tubman
Writer | Camera Three
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and ...
After she fled from slavery, she helped former black slaves to flee from the Southern states to the Northern states and Canada.
14. Elie Wiesel
Writer | L'aube
Elie Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in the Kingdom of Romania and emigrated after WWII to the United States. Wiesel is famous as a writer and human rights activist. He is a survivor of the Holocaust and his books often deal with this subject. In 1985 Wiesel was awarded the Congressional Gold...
US-Romanian writer. He played an exemplary role in fighting violence, oppression, and racism.
15. Coretta Scott King
Self | Nationtime - Gary
Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927 in Marion, Alabama, USA. She was married to Martin Luther King. She died on January 30, 2006 in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico.
Wife of Martin Luther King, continued his work after Martin Luther's death, she also wrote books about their fight.
16. Betty Friedan
Actress | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
Betty Friedan was born on February 4, 1921 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1995), Camera Three (1955) and Ex Libris (1988). She was married to Carl Friedan. She died on February 4, 2006 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Feminist, fought against discrimination of women. She tried to end stereotypes.
17. Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was born on July 2, 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi, USA. He was married to Myrlie Evers-Williams. He died on June 12, 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
He was the leader of the Association of the Advancement of Coloured People. He forced the abolition of racial segregation in Mississippi, so he could attend the university like white people.
18. W.E.B. Du Bois
Writer | Scary Stories Around the Fire
W.E.B. Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer, known for Scary Stories Around the Fire (2021). He was married to Shirley Graham and Nina Gomer. He died on August 27, 1963 in Accra, Ghana.
Sociologist, philosopher & jornalist, who joined the civil rights movement.
19. Frederick Douglass
Writer | Frederick Douglass - My Path to Freedom
Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland, USA. He was a writer, known for Frederick Douglass - My Path to Freedom (2024) and What to the American Slave Is the 4th of July? (2013). He was married to Helen Pitts and Anna Murray. He died on February 20, 1895 in Washington, ...
African American, abolitionist & writer. Allegedly, he was the most influential African American in the 19th century.
20. James Baldwin
Writer | I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924 in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for I Am Not Your Negro (2016), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and American Playhouse (1980). He died on December 1, 1987 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Alpes-Maritimes, France.
Baldwin made racism and sexuality an subject of discussion, especially black homosexuals.
21. Susan B. Anthony
Self | Crew Women Centennial
Susan B. Anthony was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17. In 1856, she became the New York state agent for ...
Womens rights activist and in 1856, she became an agent for the American Anti Slavery Society in the state of New York.
22. Jane Addams
Writer | Shoes
Jane Addams was born on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, USA. She was a writer, known for Shoes (1916), Votes for Women (1912) and Mutual Weekly, No. 16 (1915). She died on May 21, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Feminist, sociologist and journalist, later founder of social work.
23. Booker T. Washington
Self | In the Hour of Chaos
Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia, USA. He was married to Margaret James Murray, Olivia Davidson and Fanny Norton Smith. He died on November 14, 1915 in New York City, New York, USA.
He was a teacher, social reformer and fought for civil rights.
24. Liu Xiaobo
Self | Four Corners
Liu Xiaobo was born on December 28, 1955 in Changchun, Jilin, China. He was married to Liu Xia and Tao Li. He died on July 13, 2017 in Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
He was a Chinese writer, dissident and human rights activist.
25. Wangari Maathai
Actress | The Challenge for Africa
Wangari Maathai was born on April 1, 1940 in Nyeri, Kenya. She was an actress, known for The Challenge for Africa (2009), The 11th Hour (2007) and Earth Keepers (2009). She was married to Mwangi Mathai. She died on September 25, 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Leader of the women's movement in Kenya, started the Green Belt Project for afforestation of the land.
26. Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Self | Congress Session in Bombay
Muhammad Ali Jinnaha was a barrister, politician and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, and then as the Dominion of Pakistan's first governor-general until his death. He is revered in ...
Fought for the independence of Pakistan.
27. Jawaharlal Nehru
Writer | Bharat Ek Khoj
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad, India. He was the son of Swaroop Rani and Motilal Nehru, a wealthy lawyer and a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement. The Nehru family belonged to the saraswat Brahmin caste. Nehru graduated from Trinity College, ...
Fought for the independence of India.
28. Patrice Lumumba
Self | Deutschland - Terminus Ost
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960. A member of the Congolese National Movement (MNC), he led the MNC from ...
Fought for the independence from Belgium and became the 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
29. Florynce Kennedy
Actress | Born in Flames
Florynce Kennedy was born on February 11, 1916 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Born in Flames (1983), The Landlord (1970) and Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow! (1971). She was married to Charles Dudley Dye. She died on December 21, 2000 in New York City, New York, USA.
An African-American female lawyer who was an important activist in and advocate for the "Second Wave" of feminism, she fought for equal rights for women and other social minorities.
30. Shirley Chisholm
Self | Soul!
Shirley Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She was married to Arthur Hardwick Jr. and Conrad Chisholm. She died on January 1, 2005 in Ormond Beach, Florida, USA.
The first woman and first African-American to run for U.S. President from a major political party, she paved the way for the likes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Chisolm sponsored and fought for legislation to grant women equal rights, as well as for laws to help many oppressed people.
31. Barbara Jordan
Self | Sammy and Company
Barbara Jordan was born on February 21, 1936 in Houston, Texas, USA. She died on January 17, 1996 in Austin, Texas, USA.
Jordan was one of the first members of the U.S. Congress to have a disability. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her tireless efforts on behalf of the poor, racial minorities, and language minorities. She fought for renewals of the Voting Rights Act and for increasing access to voting for disenfranchised communities.
32. Bella Abzug
Actress | Manhattan
A popular labor, civil rights, and feminist activist, Abzug became the first Jewish woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1970. She was a 1947 graduate of Columbia Law School and the counsel for several of Sen. Josephy McCarthy's targets in the 1950s.
The first Jewish woman elected to the U.S. Congress, she was a labor organizer, civil rights activist and feminist activist.
33. Cesar Chavez
Self | The Fight in the Fields
Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona, USA. He was married to Helen Chavez. He died on April 23, 1993 in San Luis, Arizona, USA.
Probably the most famous labor organizer, he championed economic justice and dignity for working people, especially migrant workers. Like Martin Luther King and Ghandi, he advocated nonviolence.
34. Václav Havel
Writer | Odcházení
Václav Havel was born on October 5, 1936 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a writer and actor, known for Leaving (2011), The Beggar's Opera (1991) and Heart Beat 3D (2010). He was married to Dagmar Havlová and Olga Splíchalová. He died on December 18, 2011 in Hrádecek, Czech ...
Writer, dissident under the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, first president of the Czech Republic and advocate for humanitarian and environmentalist causes.
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