African American Activists
A leader of the Nation of Islam before founding the Organization of Afro-American Unity, this activist was known for his phrase “by any means necessary.”
Malcolm X
This feminist author wrote The Feminine Mystique and co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW).
Betty Friedan
This Oscar-winning actor used his acceptance speech to call for diversity in Hollywood, famously saying, “We need to make room for everyone.”
Denzel Washington
This Swedish teenager became famous for her school strike for climate, inspiring the global "Fridays for Future" movement.
This activist and former sharecropper co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and famously said, "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired."
Fannie Lou Hamer
This civil rights leader refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in 1955, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and becoming known as the 'Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.
Rosa Parks
A leader in the suffrage movement, she was arrested for voting in 1872 and later appeared on a U.S. dollar coin.
Susan B Anthony
This director of Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X is known for addressing race, politics, and injustice in his films.
Spike Lee
This former U.S. Vice President won a Nobel Prize for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Al Gore
This Supreme Court justice fought for gender equality and became a cultural icon known as “RBG.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
This abolitionist and orator, who escaped from slavery, wrote Narrative of the Life of and advised President Abraham Lincoln.
Frederick Douglass
This Black feminist and poet wrote Ain’t I a Woman? and has been a leading voice in intersectional feminism.
Bell Hooks
An outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and the #MeToo movement, this actress won an Oscar for Monster’s Ball.
Halle Berry
An Indigenous activist from Canada, she has fought for water rights and against oil pipelines affecting Indigenous land.
Autumn Peltier
This Black Panther actor used his fame to promote Black empowerment and secretly battled cancer while filming.
Chadwick Boseman
This civil rights activist helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and later became the first African American U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Andrew Young
This political activist co-founded the Women’s March and has advocated for immigrant and Muslim rights.
Linda Sasour
This actor risked his career in the 1940s by speaking out against racism in Hollywood and became the first Black man to win an Oscar for Best Actor.
Sidney Poitier
This British broadcaster and natural historian has spent decades educating the world about environmental issues through documentaries like Planet Earth.
Sir David Attenborough
This American activist and actor was arrested multiple times for protesting climate change, even launching the "Fire Drill Fridays" movement.
Jane Fonda
This co-founder of the Black Panther Party wrote Revolutionary Suicide and worked to establish free breakfast programs and health clinics for Black communities.
Huey P. Newton
An early 20th-century activist and journalist, she co-founded the National Association of Colored Women and fought against lynching.
Ida B Wells
This award-winning director of 12 Years a Slave and Widows has used his films to highlight historical injustices and systemic racism.
Steve McQueen
This Pacific Island activist has spoken at the UN about how rising sea levels threaten island nations like the Marshall Islands.
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory for this 1950s political phenomenon, during which government officials blacklisted and accused individuals of subversion without proper evidence—mirroring the Salem witch trials depicted in his play.
McCarthyism (Red Scare)