Bold, black and brilliant - Unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
Murray wrote. A prolific poet and author, she penned influential works like Dark Testament and Negroes Are Fed Up. History books don’t often value the stories of people of color, favoring a whitewashed version of the past over the harsh honesty of historical racism. This spin makes history more comfortable, especially for those who don’t want to confront their role in the oppression of people of color.
A direct challenge to this sanitized version of the past is Black History Month - a time to explicitly honor the struggles, triumphs and excellence of the black community.
There are countless heroes of the racial justice movement who are often denied the platform to be celebrated. Though the impact of their work is still felt, their names and contributions aren’t widely known.
It’s time for that to change.
In 1907, Burroughs, with support of the National Baptist Convention, began creating a trade school for black high school- and junior college-aged girls. The school was called the National Training School for Women and Girls, with themotto “We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible” — a testament to Burrough’s belief in educating those whom others thought were unworthy. The students were trained industrially, also learning about the liberal arts and Christianity. Burroughs was well-known for speaking publicly about harsh truths of racial inequality.
A prolific poet and author, she penned influential works like Dark Testament and Negroes Are Fed Up. Her dedication to racial justice law and activism was recognized in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy appointed her to the President’s Commission on the Status of Women Committee on Civil and Political Rights. In 1977, she became the first black woman to be ordained as a priest within the Episcopal Church.Though deeply passionate about racial justice, Murray was critical of the Civil Rights Movement. She often challenged dominant male leaders, coining the phrase “Jane Crow” to hint at the overlooked intersection of gender and race. Throughout her life, however, Murray struggled to find a label that honored her gender and sexuality. Her name switch — from Anna Pauline to Pauli — was a nod to this complexity.
If Martin Luther King Jr. was the star of the Civil Rights Movement, Bayard Rustin was the director. Most notable of his activist work was the organization of the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Organizing the march was an uphill battle for Rustin, though, as many objected his leadership because Rustin was a gay man. King, however, stood firm in his belief that Rustin was the right man for the job. Rustin had been one of his early mentors and continued to work with him as a “proofreader, ghostwriter, philosophy teacher and non-violence strategist.”
He was involved in human rights locally and internationally, including advocacy for black labor unions, economic justice and the protest of the Vietnam War. He also became more outspoken on the rights of gay and lesbian individuals starting in the early 1980s.
Before Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin. Born Sept. 5, 1939, Colvin made a name for herself at just 15 years old when she took a stand against bus segregation in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. In 1955, she boarded a crowded bus with her school friends in Montgomery, and when she refused to give up her seat to a white woman who boarded after her, Colvin was removed from the bus and arrested.
Despite being a pioneer for bus protests, the NAACP didn’t publicize Colvin’s resistance because she was dark-skinned and became pregnant by a married man soon after. But Colvin continued to be an activist, and testified in the federal court caseBrowder v. Gayle in 1956, which determined bus segregation laws to be unconstitutional.
Hampton’s extensive knowledge, leadership and oratory skills accelerated his rise within the BPP — he was chairman of the Illinois chapter and deputy chairman of the national chapter by 1969. In his time with the BPP, he helped facilitate creation of a number of free initiatives, including a children’s breakfast program, health clinics, political education classes, transportation to jails and day care centers. He encouraged the pursuit of education for all black people, especially Black Panthers. To become a member of his chapter, prospects had to go through six weeks of education so they knew what they were fighting for. While leading the Chicago chapter of the BPP, Hampton created the Rainbow Coalition, a multi-ethnic revolutionary group composed of organizations and street gangs.
In June 1969, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover described the Black Panther Party as “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.” As the deputy chairman of the national chapter, Hampton was one of the FBI’s major targets in efforts to “neutralize” the BPP, and he was put under high surveillance. On Dec. 4, 1969, the FBI conducted a raid in the home where Hampton, his pregnant girlfriend, and other members were sleeping. Hampton along with fellow Panther, Mark Clark, were killed in the raid. Hampton was only 21 years old.
Angela Davis is a major force in the fight for racial justice, using her radical — and sometimes controversial — activism to build upon the solid framework of the Civil Rights Movement.
Her activist work first caught mass attention in 1969 when she was removedfrom a philosophy teaching position at UCLA for her affiliation with the Communist Party and the Black Panther Party. A year later, she was placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List after being accused of aiding in a deadly prison escape attempt. The manhunt forced her underground, where she was eventually caught by officials, tried and found guilty. She served 16 months in prison, until an activist fought back with the Free Angela Davis campaign, which successfully led to her acquittal in 1972.
Though passionate about prison reform before her own incarceration, Davis’ experience with law enforcement propelled her to become a central, critical voice toward police, prisons and law. She became a founding member ofCritical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to radical prison reform. She is also notable for popularizing the idea of the prison industrial complex, coining the phrase to critique prisons as inherently corrupt, advocating for their abolition.
Davis brought her activism to paper, authoring nine books, including Women, Race and Class, Are Prisons Obsolete? and several works on historical black leaders. She was a professor of feminism and the history of consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz, until her retirement in 2008. Her current work and advocacy focus on gender equality, prison reform and the realities of systemic racism.
Hamer began to work tirelessly for the Civil Rights Movement, not only helping other black individuals vote in elections, but also working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which participated in acts of civil disobedience in protest of segregation and racial injustice.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Hamer remained dedicated to her activism by helping set up organizations for black people to find more business opportunities, quality health care and family services
Though Ella Baker wasn’t as visible as others involved, many activists agree there would not have been a Civil Rights Movement without her.
Baker didn’t believe there should be a sole leader of civil rights. Instead, she believed in grassroots political action and collective activism. This pushed her to fringes of the movement, as activists were so eager to champion leaders like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X as representatives.
Seeing young people take up interest in racial justice throughout her time as an activist, Baker realized the new generation of young activists were going to be assets to the movement because of their new ideas and eagerness for change. This led her to focus her attention on students for the later part of her activist career, creating the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which organized the Freedom Rides.
Here’s your history lesson for the day.
