10 influential African Americans in history

1. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
    Perhaps the most influential African American leader of his time. King is known for his freedom marches and calls for nonviolence and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Today, Dr. King’s birthday (Jan. 20) is a national holiday and serves as a tribute to his legacy.
2. Malcolm X   
    Malcolm X, who was born near Omaha, Nebraska, is often perceived as King’s opposite. He converted to Islam while in prison and then dedicated his life to converting African Americans to Islam and to the advancement of his race. Malcolm X’s call for African Americans to practice self-defense against white aggressors has caused some to view him as radical.
3. Harriet Tubman
    Tubman was a former slave, abolitionist, and women’s suffragist. She is perhaps best known for her role in the Underground Railroad. Commonly referred to as the Moses of slaves, Tubman entered the South 13 times and led over 300 people to freedom. Additionally, Tubman served as a Union spy during the Civil War.
4. W.E.B. DuBois
    DuBois is a noted scholar, author, and activist. He was an advocate for Pan-Africanism, which was a philosophy that called for the world-wide unification of people of African decent. He was the first African American to receive a Ph.D from Harvard University and a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
5. Marcus Garvey
    Garvey, a Jamaican citizen, influenced black citizens in the US (specifically Malcolm X) to be proud of their African ancestry. He even encouraged blacks to return to Africa, and helped establish Liberia.
6. Angela Davis
    Davis was an active member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party; she often spoke out against the high rates of prison incarceration of black men. When a white judge was murdered during an attempted Black Panther prison break, Davis was wrongfully linked to the crime, which caused Davis to go into hiding and to be listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List in 1970. Davis was imprisoned for a year, but the charges were later dropped. Currently, she is a college professor at the University of California and continues to protest against the “prison industrial complex” and is a prominent speaker and advocate for racial and gender equality.
7. Sojourner Truth
    Truth, a former slave, made it her life’s mission to use her gifted speaking abilities to speak for abolitionist and women’s suffragist causes. She recruited black soldiers into the Union Army and also spoke about prison reform and abolishing the death penalty. As a highly spiritual individual Truth believed her actions reflected the will of God and often said, “The Spirit calls me, and I must go.”
8. Frederick Douglass
    Born into slavery, Douglass had tremendous writing and oratory skills, and he published an autobiography along with several newspapers. During the Civil War, Douglass was an avid abolitionist who worked with President Lincoln to emancipate slaves and abolish slavery in the United States.
9. Rosa Parks
    Parks is notorious for being arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat for a white person, an event that helped to start the Civil Rights Movement. Parks continued to be a civil rights activist throughout her life.
10. Barack Obama
    Obama is currently a United States Senator (the only African American in the Senate) and a Democratic candidate for President. Obama’s candidacy marks the first time an African American has been a serious contender for a presidential nomination. Should Obama be elected president, he will be the first black president in US history.