List of African-American activists

This is a list of African-American activists covering various areas of activism, but primarily focus on those African Americans who historically and currently have been fighting racism and racial injustice against African Americans. The United States of America has a long history of racism against its Black citizens. The names detailed below contains only notable African Americans who are known to be activist (sorted by surname).

List of activists








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
 * 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
 * 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

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
 * 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

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