Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. On one occasion he and his teacher were riding on a bus. When the bus filled up with people, the driver asked them to stand up and let two white people have their seats. It was the law. Martin saw the injustice of it, and he never forgot that incident. Later in life, Martin Luther King, Jr., worked for racial equality and civil rights in the United States of America. He participated in the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott and many other peaceful demonstrations that protested the unfair treatment of African-Americans. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He will forever be known as one of the greatest and most influential civil rights activists.
Malcolm X
From a young age, Malcolm X was a first-hand witness of discrimination. When he was about 14 years old, his father was murdered by a group of white men
because they did not approve of what he was doing. He was the president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and a great civil rights leader who
influenced others to fight for the rights they needed and deserved. Malcolm grew up trying to follow in his father’s footsteps. In 1939, his mother was sent to a hospital for the mentally insane, forcing him to be sent to a foster home. This greatly affected him and the choices he made in life. After being released from prison, Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam which practiced a form of Muslim religion, thinking that it would be a great way to preach the idea of equality for African Americans. The FBI feared his beliefs because he would often say that blacks should fight for equality by any means even if it meant violence which other leaders such as Martin Luther King were strictly against. Years later, Malcolm X tried to leave the Nation of Islam, but was unsuccessful as he was assassinated by a group of its members soon after.
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was born as Isabella Baumfree to slave parents in 1797. During her youth she worked for many years as a slave for many different
families. She was often abused and mistreated for her hard work and was never given the freedom she deserved. As a young adult, she made the painful decision
to run away from her slave owners and leave behind her husband and young children who were also slaves. Once free, she dedicated her life to travelling on foot to preach her beliefs of equal rights for women and African Americans along with rescuing other slaves from their plantation owners. She decided to change her name to Sojourner Truth because “sojourner” means traveler and "truth" because she felt it was her mission in life to tell people the truth about slavery and equal rights.
Alice Paul
Born on January 11, 1885 to Quaker parents in New Jersey, Alice Paul dedicated her life to the cause of securing equal rights for women. From a young
age, she had to work hard to accomplish what she had to while living on their family farm. She once said that, “When you put your hand to the plow, you can’t put it down until you get to the end of the row.” Alice Paul was an admirable student in school along with several extracurricular sports. Her parents raised her with the belief that there should be gender equality among all men and women and she strongly supported it as a member of the Nation American Women Suffrage Association. She was appointed to the head of the Congressional Committee which was in charge of working for a federal suffrage amendment. A few years later, she helped organize the march on Washington to promote gender equality and equal rights for women. Although many did not approve of the parade, they were able to gain national attention and even made headlines all across the nation. Overall, Alice Paul’s work was a success and she was a major part of NAWSA and everything it stood for.
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore Maryland in 1908. In 1930, he applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied because he was Black. This was to haunt him and direct his future professional life. Marshall then was accepted at Howard University Law School. Marshall's first major court case came in 1933 when he successfully sued the University of Maryland to admit a young African American. He later became Chief Counsel for the National Association for the advancement of Colored People(NAACP). After winning several Supreme Court Cases, including the Brown v. Board decision in 1954, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Thurgood Marshall wrote over 150 decisions and overturned the “Separate-but-Equal” Doctrine. He died in 1993, but he was remembered for his Supreme Court victories and impact on the Civil Rights Movement.
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee Alabama on February 4,1913. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks at the age of 42 sat in the middle to back of the bus, right behind the ten seats that were reserved for whites. A white man came on the bus and the driver insisted on Rosa to move her seat for the man, but Rosa quietly sat and refused to give up her seat. This wasn't expected of her to do, even though she had a great involvement with the Civil Rights. After what Rosa Parks did she got arrested. She was convicted of violating the laws of segregation. These laws were known as the "Jim Crow Laws." Rosa Parks appealed the conviction given and formally challenged the legality of segregation. Rosa Parks had a huge effect on the Civil Rights movement. Rosa's action on the Montgomery bus was a symbol for the Civil Rights.