Civil Rights Leaders
This civil rights leader led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
On Feb 1, 1960, four freshman from NC A&T staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s counted with this famous name
Greensboro Sit Ins
Nickname “Barry”; President of Harvard Law Review; Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Two-Time Grammy Winner for Best Spoken Word Album, and First Black President of US
This HBCU produced the first Black US Supreme Court Justice
Howard University
This late actor portrayed T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther
Chadwick Boseman
This member of D9 was the Lead attorney in the Brown v. Board of Education and the first Black US Supreme Court Justice
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
This HBCU hosted the 1960 meeting where Ella Baker helped launch a student-led civil rights organization that went on to organize Freedom Rides and voter registration drives
Shaw University
This civil rights attorney was the first Black woman federal judge
Constance Baker Motley
Cut off for schools officially recognized as Historically Black Colleges and Universities
1964
Comedian who starred in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop
Eddie Murphy
“Good Trouble”; Youngest Speaker at the March on Washington (1963); Freedom Rider; Bloody Sunday Survivor
John Lewis
This is a nationally recognized Black business and cultural hub, often called Durham’s Black Wall Street
Hayti District
She was the first Black woman elected to the US Congress and first Black woman to seek the Democratic nomination for President; famous for motto “unbought and unbossed”
Shirley Chisholm
This HBCU became the first state-supported liberal arts college for Black students in the United States, and grew alongside one of the most Black business districts in the early 20th-century; motto: “Truth and Service”
North Carolina Central University (NCCU)
Singer, actress, and activist refused to perform for segregated audiences; famous songs include “Feeling Good,” “I Put a Spell on You”
Nina Simone
Founder of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now Tuskegee University; Born into slavery in 1865 in Virginia; gained freedom as a child after the Civil War; famous address “Atlanta Compromise”
Booker T. Washington
The first Black-chartered town in NC after the Civil War
Princeville, NC
Architect of NAACP’s legal strategy to dismantle segregation; nicknamed “The Man Who Killed Jim Crow”; first Black student elected to the editorial board of the Harvard Law Review; mentor to Thurgood Marshall
Charles Hamilton Houston
This HBCU’s famous alumna includes television host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey
Tennessee State University
Rapper who became first hip hop artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music
Kendrick Lamar
NAACP filed secretary in Mississippi; assassinated in 1963 for his civil rights work; widow’s efforts over the span of decades pushing for the trial and conviction of husband’s murderer inspired movie “Ghosts of Mississippi”
Medgar Evers
Formerly enslaved Wilmington native, became a Union spy, led the African Brigade, met with Abraham Lincoln, and later served in the NC legislature during Reconstruction
Abraham Galloway
First Black leader of a majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives; shares a birthday with Barack Obama; from Brooklyn, NY
Hakeem Jeffries
This HBCU, named after abolitionists, awarded its first college degrees in 1901; its alumna includes award-winning author of the Color Purple, Alice Walker
Spelman College
First Solo Female Hip-Hop Artist to be Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Missy Elliott