Activists

This board features biographic sketches and quotes from prominent social and political activists. Also, check out our board "Social Theorists" to find a catalogue of notable people who engaged in more of an academic activism.

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The Sociological Cinema

Isabel Cabanillas (1993 - 2020) was an artist, women's rights activist, and member of the activist collective, Hijas de su Maquilera Madre (Daughters of Maquila Worker Mothers), located in Juárez, Mexico. Tragically, in 2020 she was murdered while riding her bicycle home. Her murder is part of an epidemic of femicides in Juárez. In the last three decades, hundreds of women have been brutally killed in the city, with some raped, tortured and trafficked.

Simone Biles (b. 1997) - World champion gymnast & badass advocate for survivors of sexual assault. Artist: Joey Hartmann-Dow

Sonita Alizadeh (b. 1997) is an Afghan rapper and activist who has been vocal against forced marriages. Alizadeh first gained attention when she released "Brides for Sale," a video in which she raps about daughters being sold into marriage by their families. Alizadeh currently lives in Utah and attends Wasatch Academy on a full scholarship.

Activists: Born 1990s

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Al-Hathloul is a Saudi women's rights activist, a social media figure, and a political prisoner. Al-Hathloul has been arrested and released on several occasions for defying the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia and was arrested in May 2018, with several prominent women's rights activists, on the charge of "attempting to destabilise the kingdom." On December 28, 2020, Hathloul was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison.

Patrisse Cullors (1983), Alicia Garza (1981), and Opal Tometi (1984) are the three activists credited with starting the Black Lives Matter movement. After George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin in July 2013, Alicia Garza posted on Facebook, “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter, Black Lives Matter.” Patrisse Cullors was then the first to share the post with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Opal Tometi later joined as social media expert.

Activists: Born 1980s

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Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman (1979 - ) center, and other demonstrators chant anti-government slogans during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, January 29, 2011. In 2011, Tawakkul was the first woman from Yemen to win the Nobel Prize for Peace “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Photo credit: Hani Mohammed / AP

The organizers of the Women’s March, from left to right: Tamika D Mallory (b. 1980), Bob Bland (b. 1982), Carmen Perez (b. 1977) and Linda Sarsour (b. 1980). Photo credit: Jody Rogac

Reshma Saujani (b. 1975) - Badass lawyer, activist, & founder of Girls Who Code--leading a movement to close the gender gap in tech. Artist: Joey Hartmann-Dow

Activists: Born 1970s

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Laura Hershey (1962 - 2010) - Badass poet and activist for social justice & queer disabled visibility. "You get proud by practicing." Artist: Joey Hartmann-Dow

Emma Tenayuca (1960 - 1999) - Tenacious union organizer & badass leader of labor action in Texas in the 1930s. Artist: Joey Hartmann-Dow

"Come on, peeps. We can't let the anti-government, climate-change-denying, greedy, violent, misogynistic, theocratic white supremacists take over the executive branch of the government including the DOJ and the military. Seriously." ~ Annabel Park (b. 1968). Park is a Korean American documentary filmmaker, political activist & community volunteer. Among other accomplishments, she was the national coordinator for the 121 Coalition, a network of second-generation Korean Americans.

Activists: Born 1960s

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Linda Bellos (b. 1950) Founder of Black History month in the UK. She is also the patron of Broken Rainbow UK, which supports LGBT victims of domestic violence.

"No amount of pressure will deter me from representing women in distress. It has been my life mission Till the last breath will stand by them." ~ @Asma_Jahangir (1952 - 2018) Asma Jilani Jahangir was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. She was known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers' Movement and served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief...

Donna Kate Rushin (1951 - ). Cambridge, MA, 1987 Kate Rushin is the author of The Black Back-Ups (Firebrand Books). Her “ The Bridge Poem” appears in This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, a ground-breaking feminist anthology edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa. Recipient of the Rose Low Rome Memorial Poetry Prize and the Grolier Poetry Prize, her work is widely anthologized and has been published in such journals as Callaloo. Photo credit: Giard, Robert

Activists: Born 1950s

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John Lewis was an American politician and civil rights leader. He served 17 terms as the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, and was the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. Artist: Catherine A. Moore

"When I heard the words of Dr. King, I knew then that I could strike a blow against segregation and racial discrimination, and I decided to get in trouble. I decided to get in the way. But it was good trouble, necessary trouble. Democracy is not a state. It is an act." - John Lewis (1940 - 2020) | Portrait: Robert Shetterly

Ina May Gaskin (b. 1940) is a Midwife and Birth Activist. She has been described as the "mother of authentic midwifery" and has been credited with the popularization of direct-entry midwifery (i.e. not training as a nurse first) in the United States. In 2011, Gaskin received the Right Livelihood Award, an honor bestowed each year by the Swedish Parliament; the award is often referred to as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.”

Activists: Born 1940s

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Harvey Milk (1930 - 1978) "If a bullet should enter my brain. Let that bullet destroy every closet door." ~ Harvey Milk Artist: Does anyone know who the artist of this image is?

"It was time that Negroes were treated equally with whites, time that they had a decent school, time for the students themselves to do something about it. There wasn’t any fear. I just thought --- this is your moment. Seize it!" - Barbara Johns | Portrait: Robert Shetterly

"…as a teenager, I kept thinking, Why don’t the adults around here just say something? Say it so that they know we don’t accept segregation? I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, 'This is not right.' And I did." - Claudette Colvin (1939 - ) | Portrait: Robert Shetterly

Activists: Born 1930s

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Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) and Malcolm X

Activists: Born 1920s

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Lloyd Lionel Gaines was the plaintiff in Gaines v. Canada (1938), which was one of the most important early court cases in the 20th-century U.S. civil rights movement. After being denied admission to the University of Missouri School of Law because he was Black, Gaines filed suit and was eventually heard by the SCOTUS, which ruled in his favor. The Court held that the separate but equal doctrine required that Missouri either admit him or set up a separate law school for black students...

Bayard Rustin (1912 - 1987) and James Baldwin

Bayard Rustin (1912 - 1987) is most widely recognized as a leading strategist of the civil rights movement from 1955 to 1968. Rustin practiced a pacifist activist philosophy from very early on and even played a role in helping to initiate a 1947 Freedom Ride to challenge racial segregation on interstate busing....-"When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him." Artist: Ari Moore

Activists: Born 1910s

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"I must fight with all my strength so that the little positive things that my health allows me to do might be pointed toward helping the revolution, the only real reason for living." ~ Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954)

"Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens." ~ Ella Baker (1903 - 1986), 1964

Activists: Born 1900s

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Ruth Charlotte Ellis (1899 - 2000) was an African-American woman who became widely known as the oldest surviving open lesbian, and LGBT rights activist. Ellis was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009, and a memorial to her was placed on Chicago’s Legacy Walk in 2013. The Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit is a refuge for LGBTQ youths. This photo of Ellis was taken in 1951.

Anna Arnold Hedgeman (1899 – 1990) Among other contributions to the struggle for great civil rights, Anna Arnold Hedgemann worked with Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph as an organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In 1966 she was also a co-founder of the National Organization for Women.

Soraya Tarzi (1899-1968) was also known as Queen Soraya of Afghanistan. She was educated by her father, who was the Afghan leader and intellectual. Among her many achievements, Queen Soraya encouraged women to get an education and opened the first school for girls in Kabul. She sent 15 young women to Turkey for higher education in 1928. Soraya was very instrumental in enforcing change for women and publicly exhorted them to be active participants in nation building. Artist: Jason Porath

Activists: Born 1890s

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Alice Stokes Paul (1885 - 1977) was an American suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and the main leader and strategist of the 1910s campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote.

Alice Paul was an American suffragist and activist. Along with others, she helped campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. Source: Herstory Scrapbook (http://herstoryscrapbook.com/Intro/Intro.Paul.p3.htm)

In 1930-at at time when women still weren’t allowed to vote--Prudencia Ayala (1885-1936), of indigenous heritage, ran for president of El Salvador, making her the 1st woman in Latin America to do so. She ran on women’s rights, suffrage, recognition of illegitimate children, public corruption, support of labor unions, & freedom of religion. The Supreme Court of El Salvador declared her campaign unconstitutional & denied her the right to run. Women were allowed to vote in El Salvador in 1950.

Activists: Born 1880s

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(1901) - Zitkala-Sa was a pioneer in a generation of Indian rights activists who had graduated from mission and government schools, where children were forbidden from speaking their indigenous native languages. Working together, these intellectual activists representing various tribal backgrounds used their formal educations and flawless English to fight U.S. federal Indian policy and demand social justice...Photo credit: Joseph T. Kelley / Text: National Portrait Gallery

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874 – 1938) was a Puerto Rican historian, writer, and activist in the United States who researched and raised awareness of the great contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and Afro-Americans have made to society. Aurthur was known as the “Sherlock Holmes” of Black History, and he was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

"The American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future." ~ Arturo Schomburg (1874-1938). Schomburg was a Puerto Rican historian, writer, and activist in the United States who researched and raised awareness of the great contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and Afro-Americans have made to society. Aurthur was known as the “Sherlock Holmes” of Black History, and he was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Artist: Ron Wimberly (https://medium.com/the-nib/)

Activists: Born 1870s

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Addams was an American sociologist, social worker, activist, and author. Among her many achievements, Addams and her partner, Ellen Gates Starr, co-founded Hull House. At its peak, Hull House was visited each week by some 2,000 people. The house served as a center for research, empirical analysis, study, and debate, as well as a pragmatic center for living in and establishing good relations with the neighborhood. Photo credit: Gerhard Sisters

Mary White Ovington (1865 -1951) was a civil rights reformer and a founder of the NAACP. She devoted her adult life to combating racial discrimination and to enfranchising, improving material conditions and providing equal opportunities for African-Americans.

Activists: Born 1860s

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Kelley was born in Philadelphia and was reportedly pushed into social activism as a child. Her parents, both abolitionists, supported Kelley’s early interest in education and women’s rights. After graduating from Cornell University, she moved to Europe to continue her education at the University of Zurich. While in Europe, Kelley joined the Germany Social Democratic Party and translated many of the party’s important works...

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) speaking from a stage near New Orleans, Louisiana, c. 1912. Photo credit: A. P. Bedou

Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), the suffragette, seen here seated and smiling in a wicker chair, circa 1915. Photo credit: Bettmann / Corbis

Activists: Born 1850s

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Toussaint Louverture (1743 - 1803) trained slaves in the tactics of guerrilla warfare, and by 1795 Louverture drove Napoleon's army out of Haiti and ended slavery on the island.

La Mulâtresse Solitude (1772 - 1802) was a slave rebel and heroine in the fight against slavery in Guadeloupe. Originally a slave, she was freed by the abolition of slavery in 1794 during the French revolution. When slavery was reintroduced on Guadeloupe by Napoleon in 1802, she joined Louis Delgrès call to fight for her freedom and took part in the Battle of May 18, 1802. She was captured and executed by hanging after being allowed to wait out her pregnancy.

Activists: Born Before 1850

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Civil Rights

African American History

Educational Illustration

Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862 - 1931)

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United Nations Human Rights

Hunger Strike

Arabian Women

Human Rights Activists

Loujain al-Hathloul (b. 1989)

Al-Hathloul is a Saudi women's rights activist, a social media figure, and a political prisoner. Al-Hathloul has been arrested and released on several occasions for defying the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia and was arrested in May 2018, with several prominent women's rights activists, on the charge of "attempting to destabilise the kingdom." On December 28, 2020, Hathloul was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison.

New Orleans Louisiana

Black Excellence

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968)

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African Americans

Civil Rights Movement

People Activity

Law Degree

Black Knowledge

University Of Missouri

Afro American

African Diaspora

Black Pride

Lloyd Lionel Gaines (1911 – disappeared 1939)

Lloyd Lionel Gaines was the plaintiff in Gaines v. Canada (1938), which was one of the most important early court cases in the 20th-century U.S. civil rights movement. After being denied admission to the University of Missouri School of Law because he was Black, Gaines filed suit and was eventually heard by the SCOTUS, which ruled in his favor. The Court held that the separate but equal doctrine required that Missouri either admit him or set up a separate law school for black students...

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Civil Rights Act Of 1964

Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Mlk Jr

Dr Martin Luther King

Civil Rights Leaders

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Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) and Malcolm X

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Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther

Martin Luther King

Words Of Wisdom

"There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you say, 'Be nonviolent toward Jim Clark,' but will curse and damn you when you say, 'Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children.' There is something wrong with that press." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968)

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Rebellious Women

Woman Day

Freedom Of Expression

Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman (1979 - ) center, and other demonstrators chant anti-government slogans during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, January 29, 2011. In 2011, Tawakkul was the first woman from Yemen to win the Nobel Prize for Peace “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Photo credit: Hani Mohammed / AP

black and white photograph of three women posing for the camera with one woman wearing a hijab

Intersectional Feminism

The organizers of the Women’s March, from left to right: Tamika D Mallory (b. 1980), Bob Bland (b. 1982), Carmen Perez (b. 1977) and Linda Sarsour (b. 1980). Photo credit: Jody Rogac

a quote from martin luther king about the struggle to be murdered by the oppressed

Travel Quotes

Wise Words

Think Before You Speak

MLK (1929 - 1968)

Black American civil rights leader and Baptist minister Dr Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) raising his hands in a restaurant, September 21, 1963 Photo credit: William H. Alden / Evening Standard / Getty Images

a man in a suit and tie painted on the side of a wall

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965) Artist: Brandan Odums As a part of Project Be, Odums painted this graffiti-style mural inside the ruined remains of the Florida public housing development in the 9th Ward. — in New Orleans, Louisiana.

two women and one man are standing next to each other, with the caption 100 % inspireing

Black Lives Matter Movement

Black Lives Matter

Patrisse Cullors (1983), Alicia Garza (1981), and Opal Tometi (1984) are the three activists credited with starting the Black Lives Matter movement. After George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin in July 2013, Alicia Garza posted on Facebook, “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter, Black Lives Matter.” Patrisse Cullors was then the first to share the post with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Opal Tometi later joined as social media expert.

three women standing together in front of a blue backdrop

International Women’s Day

Power To The People

Woman’s Day

Black People

The Founders of #BlackLivesMatter

Patrisse Cullors (1983), Alicia Garza (1981), and Opal Tometi (1984) are the three activists credited with starting the Black Lives Matter movement. After George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin in July 2013, Alicia Garza posted on Facebook, "Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter, Black Lives Matter." Patrisse Cullors was then the first to share the post with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Opal Tometi later joined.

a watercolor and ink drawing of a woman's face with the words today's black power on it

Juneteenth Quotes

Quotes From Women

Black Lives Matter Quotes

Alicia Garza (b. 1981)

"Today's Black power is transforming democracy--but we cannot do it alone. We need the best and the brightest thinkers, strategists, coders, surveillance experts, tech geeks and disruptors to utilize all of the tools we have available to us to build the world we want to see. A world where Black lives matter. A world where all lives matter." ~ Artist: Kimothy Joy

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