Civil rights movement in the United States: Key actors/ groups

Key Actors/Groups in the Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King Jr.: Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King championed a peaceful resistance strategy based on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. His ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at the March on Washington in 1963 became a rallying cry of the movement. He was assassinated in 1968.
Rosa Parks: Known as “the first lady of civil rights”, her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a significant public stand against segregation.
Malcolm X: Radical leader who emerged as a vocal critic of the non-violent strategy advocated by King. He advocated for black empowerment, black self-defense, and the separation of black and white Americans.
Stokely Carmichael: Leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who championed ‘Black Power’ - a philosophy promoting black interests and values and encouraging the establishment of black control of political and economic institutions.
Ella Baker: Activist who played key roles in three of the most influential civil rights groups of the time: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): Established in 1909, the NAACP advanced legal strategies to confront segregation, most notably in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that led to the desegregation of public schools.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC): Formed by student activists in 1960, the SNCC played a principal role in organizing sit-ins, freedom rides, and voter registration drives for black citizens in the south.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC): Founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the SCLC became a major force in organising the civil rights movement and led pivotal campaigns in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama that resulted in the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Black Panther Party: Founded in 1966, the party advocated the use of self-defence and worked to establish revolution as a way to gain racial justice. They implemented social programs and services like health clinics and free breakfast programs for children in black communities.
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE): Active in the early stages of the civil rights movement, CORE was instrumental in initiating the Freedom Rides in 1961 to challenge segregation in transportation in the South.