PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: activism
Indian leader
Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the Indian Independence Movement against British rule. As such, he came to be considered the father...
American religious leader and civil-rights activist
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. His leadership was...
president of South Korea
Moon Jae-In is a South Korean lawyer and civil rights activist who was the president of South Korea (2017–22) and leader of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea (2015–16). Moon’s parents were refugees...
prime minister of Poland
Mateusz Morawiecki is a Polish banker, economist, and politician who served as prime minister of Poland (2017–23). Morawiecki, who had been serving as deputy prime minister and finance minister and minister...
Canadian businesswoman and civil libertarian
Viola Desmond was a Canadian businesswoman and civil libertarian who built a career as a beautician and was a mentor to young Black women in Nova Scotia through her Desmond School of Beauty Culture. However,...
Russian lawyer
Aleksey Navalny was a Russian lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and politician who achieved international recognition as one of the most prominent domestic critics of Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin (1999–2008,...
anti–gun violence activist
As a kid, David Hogg struggled with ADHD and dyslexia. When he was in fifth grade, his father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. During his freshman year in high school, his family moved from California...
American activist and author
Ron Kovic is a Vietnam War veteran, activist, and author who became a leading antiwar figure in the 1970s. Kovic had been wounded and paralyzed during his service in the war. In 1976 he detailed his experiences...
Chinese activist and artist
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist and activist who produced a multifaceted array of creative work, including sculptural installations, architectural projects, photographs, and videos. While Ai’s art was lauded...
American writer
Larry Kramer was an American playwright, screenwriter, and gay rights activist whose confrontational style of advocacy, while divisive, was credited by many with catalyzing the response to the HIV/AIDS...
president of South Africa
Nelson Mandela was a Black nationalist and the first Black president of South Africa (1994–99). His negotiations in the early 1990s with South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk helped end the country’s apartheid...
American activist
Fred Hampton was an American civil rights leader and deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter who formed the city of Chicago’s first “Rainbow Coalition.” Hampton was killed during...
American Muslim leader
Malcolm X was an African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam who articulated concepts of race pride and Black nationalism in the early 1960s. After his assassination, the widespread...
Indian lawyer and social activist
Baba Amte was an Indian lawyer and social activist chiefly known for his rehabilitative initiatives for underprivileged leprosy patients and his involvement in the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA; “Save Narmada...
American civil rights activist
Rosa Parks was an American civil rights activist whose refusal to relinquish her seat on a public bus precipitated the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which became the spark that ignited the...
American actor and social activist
Edward James Olmos is a Mexican American actor, director, producer, and activist known for his gruff voice and distinctive features and for his crafting of complex Latino characters in film, television,...
Palestinian activist and politician
Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian political activist and politician who rose to prominence as a youth leader in the years leading up to the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, (1987–93). Barghouti,...
Australian activist, athlete, minister, and politician
Douglas Nicholls was a Yorta Yorta activist, athlete, minister, and politician who sought to establish the rights of Australian Aboriginal peoples. After early success as an athlete, Nicholls used his...
American activist
Lilly Ledbetter was an American activist whose equal-pay lawsuit against the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company led to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which ensured that women have fair and effective...
British historian
E.P. Thompson was a British social historian and political activist. His The Making of the English Working Class (1963) and other works heavily influenced post-World War II historiography. Thompson participated...
American journalist and political activist
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an American journalist and political activist who was sentenced to death and then to life in prison for the 1981 murder of a police officer, Daniel Faulkner, in Philadelphia. Wesley...
Turkish-American activist
Ayşenur Eygi was a Turkish-American citizen and longtime activist for multiple causes. While participating in a protest on September 6, 2024, in the occupied West Bank, she was fatally shot by an Israeli...
Iranian human rights activist
Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian journalist and human rights activist who received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2023. The award came after an especially tumultuous year of unrest in Iran following the death...
American writer and activist
John Oliver Killens was an American writer and activist known for his politically charged novels—particularly Youngblood (1954)—and his contributions to the Black Arts movement and as a founder of the...
Pakistani activist
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist who, while a teenager, spoke out publicly against the prohibition on the education of girls that was imposed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP; sometimes called...
American politician and physician
Jill Stein is a former practicing physician and an environmental activist who has run as the candidate of the Green Party of the United States in multiple elections. She was the Green Party’s 2024 presidential...
American Indian activist
Leonard Peltier is a Native American (mostly Ojibwa) activist who, after becoming one of the best-known indigenous rights activists in North America, was convicted in 1977 of having murdered two Federal...
Australian author
Catherine Helen Spence, was a writer and activist who sought to improve educational and welfare programs in Australia and to reform the country’s voting system. An immigrant from Scotland, she was a major...
American activist
Opal Lee’s life has been defined by one date: June 19. Meet Opal Lee Lee became widely known in the 21st century as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” for her role in having the date—when Union soldiers arrived...
American politician
Andrew Cuomo is an American politician and attorney who served as the governor of New York from 2011 to 2021, when he resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations. He previously served as secretary of Housing...
American educator and activist
Mamie Till-Mobley was an American educator and activist who helped galvanize the emerging civil rights movement after her son, Emmett Till, was murdered in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white grocery...
Australian activist
Lowitja O’Donoghue is an Australian activist whose lifelong advocacy for Aboriginal rights and reconciliation made her one of the most respected and influential Aboriginal people in Australian history....
American activist and scholar
Maulana Karenga is an American activist, scholar, and author. He is best known as the creator of Kwanzaa, the seven-day African American and Pan-African holiday. Ronald McKinley Everett was born to Levi...
Indian social activist and politician
Arvind Kejriwal is an Indian social activist and politician best known for being the founder and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP; “Common Man’s Party”). A former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer...
American disability rights activist
Judith Heumann was an American disability rights activist who fought for the integration and equality of individuals affected by disability in the United States and internationally. Because of her pioneering...
American actor, writer, and activist
George Takei is an American actor, writer, and activist best known for playing the part of Lieutenant Sulu in the television and film series Star Trek. Takei is also a dedicated activist in the lesbian,...
American politician
Michael Steele is an American politician, the first African American to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC; 2009–2011). Steele attended Johns Hopkins University, where he received...
American shoemaker
Homer Plessy was an American shoemaker who was best known as the plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which sanctioned the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine...
Panamanian musician, actor, and political activist
Rubén Blades is a Panamanian musician, actor, and political activist who was one of the most successful and influential salsa musicians of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Blades was born into a...
Trinidadian activist and journalist
Claudia Jones was a Trinidadian social and political activist and journalist who advocated for Black individuals, women, and workers in both the United States and England. Her early experience of racism...
Mexican American journalist, teacher, and activist
Jovita Idár was a Mexican American journalist, teacher, and activist who devoted her life to fighting the racism and discrimination that she witnessed during her life in Texas. She was also a staunch advocate...
Somalian physician, lawyer, and activist
Hawa Abdi was a Somali physician, lawyer, community leader, and human rights activist. Amid the dangerous landscape of the Somali Civil War, Abdi organized a safe shelter, school, and clinical camp for...
Northern Irish activist
Bobby Sands was an officer of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who rose to international prominence in 1981 when he embarked on a fatal hunger strike while imprisoned for activities related to the IRA’s...
Indian social activist
Anna Hazare is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish official corruption. In addition to organizing and...
Cuban performance artist
Tania Bruguera is a Cuban performance artist and activist whose work often considers totalitarianism, immigration, and human rights. She founded (2015) the Institute of Artivism/Instituto de Artivismo...
president of Ireland
Michael D. Higgins is an Irish politician, human rights activist, university lecturer, and poet who began serving as president of Ireland in 2011. At age five Higgins was separated from his parents, whose...
South African journalist, activist, and politician
Helen Zille is a South African journalist, activist, and politician who served as the national leader (2007–15) of the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s official opposition party, and as the premier...
Mi’kmaq Indian activist
Anna Mae Aquash was a Canadian-born Mi’kmaq Indian activist noted for her mysterious death by homicide shortly after her participation in a protest at Wounded Knee. Aquash was raised in poverty and, as...
Torres Strait Islander activist
Eddie Koiki Mabo was a Meriam activist who fought for and established land rights for Torres Strait Islander peoples in the 1980s and ’90s. He brought before the High Court of Australia what became known...
Australian civil rights activist
Faith Bandler was an Australian civil rights activist who advocated for the rights of Indigenous Australians and South Sea Islander people—those who were brought to Australia, often forcibly, from the...
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