During Black History Month, and year round in discussions of civil rights, we often hear the names of familiar heroes such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. These figures however, though having undoubtedly earned their place in history, are not the only who contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. Of course there is still work to be done and there are many who today are still fighting; but as tomorrow unfolds into a hopefully better future, America should look, too, to the past in honor of those who, many times thanklessly, put heart and soul into forging a better world. Here are just 5 of those unsung heroes
1) Bayard Rustin
Born in Pennsylvania 1912, Bayard Rustin grew up in family of activists--something which surely influenced the work of his adult life as he helped to organize resistance against racial discrimination. Among other acts of nonviolent protest, he, much like Rosa Parks, once took a second row seat in a bus bound for Nashville and refused to move. Additionally, he was one of the people who taught Dr. Martin Luther King Jr about the practice of nonviolence and helped to promote him as a leader by aiding in the organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Bayard was also openly gay and was a strong advocate for gay rights.
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2) Robert Smalls
Robert Smalls was born a slave in 1839 though would grow up to ship pilot; freeing himself and his crew during an uprising he led on a Confederate ship. He successfully overthrew the ship and sailed it to freedom; something which prompted African Americans to be permitted enlistment into the Union Forces. Later in life, Smalls became a politician; during which time he legislated the United State's first free and compulsory public school system.
3) Claudette Colvin
9 Months before the arrest of Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin performed a similar feat of bravery at the age of 15 for defying segregation on a bus. One year later, she along with four other plaintiffs testified in Browder vs. Gayle-- a case which proved bus segregation to be unconstitutional under the 14th amendment. Despite these accomplishments she was not recognized in her time because she was young and pregnant and often described as "feisty." Rosa Parks was favored by the NAACP by virtue of being viewed as more traditionally "well-mannered." Colvin, born in 1939, is still alive today, living in Montgomery, Alabama.
4) Susie Baker King Taylor
Susie Baker King Taylor was born to slave parents in 1848--living with them until the age of 7 when she moved to Georgia with her grandmother. There, in Savannah, she was a student at two secret, black-led schools. After extending her education she was forced to flee to the Union-occupied St. Simons Island where she was asked to teach by army officers. When she returned to Georgia she would become the first black teacher of freed slaves at a freedman's school which she founded.
5) William Wells Brown
Considered by many to be the first African-American to publish a novel, Brown was an activist, writer, and escaped slave most famously having written on the descendants of Thomas Jefferson, who had an affair with Sally Hemmings: a woman he kept as a slave. Brown also lectured as an abolitionist and a proponent of women's suffrage.
