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Here are some of the civil rights movement's most vocal agents of change: Martin Luther King Jr. Widely recognized as the most prominent figure of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was instrumental in executing nonviolent protests, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. The 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment legally ended slavery in the United States, but, for the victims of the Atlantic slave trade, it also marked the beginning of a new era of oppression. Black History Ava DuVernay Octavia Spencer Inventor Garrett Morgan’s Lifesaving 1916 Rescue Get to Know 5 History-Making Black Country Singers Frederick Jones Lonnie Johnson Bob Marley 10 Black Authors Who Shaped Literary History Benjamin Banneker Josephine Baker Lewis Howard Latimer Jackie Joyner-Kersee A Part of Hearst Digital Media READ MORE: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Famous Speech Almost Didn’t Have the Phrase 'I Have a Dream' Malcolm X In stark contrast to King's championing of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience, Malcolm X famously preached defending oneself "by any means necessary," thus sparking what many considered to be a radicalized, potentially violent version of the civil rights movement. Over the course of the next two decades, countless Black men and women mobilized, organizing boycotts, sit-ins, and nonviolent protests such as the 1961 Freedom Rides and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in an effort to fight back against systematic oppression.

The American civil rights movement was a nationwide struggle for justice and equality for Black Americans during the 1950s and '60s. While the names of some activists—Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Thurgood Marshall—and their contributions are well known, those figures are just a few of the men and women whose efforts and commitment to equal rights and opportunity reshaped the ...

Julian Bond. Julian Bond, then chairman of the NAACP, spoke to Howard Law students about his life's work as a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement and social activist in 2015. Bond went ...