Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X. Rosa Parks. These people were three of the most influential in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, and their legacy has lived on in the hearts and minds of most, if not all, people.
However, during this movement, there were many other people on the front lines, fighting for their own, and other people's, rights. There were men and women, black and white; some were killed, others beaten, all who fought for equal rights in "the land of the free, and the home of the brave."
Claudette Colvin.
March 2, 1955. A black female refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white person in Montgomery, Ala. Because of the Jim Crow laws that dominated the South, this black girl is arrested, and manhandled by police officers. You are probably wondering why I'm telling you what seems to be the story of Rosa Parks under the name of Claudette Colvin, but this is Ms. Colvin's story. At 15 years old, Claudette was a smart girl who was very interested in the stories of women like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. Her story of defiance and arrest actually happened nine months before Rosa Parks did the same. While Claudette got a lot of attention from this at that time, she was not quite the person that the Civil Rights Movement was looking for to be their frontrunner. She was young and poor in a movement that was more middle class. Later, she would also have an affair with a married man and have his child. This would ruin her credibility against the "white establishment," causing the movement to forget about her, and turn to Rosa Parks to be more of a leader. However, Claudette's story cannot be forgotten. Although she may have made some mistakes along the way, as we all have, she still stood for justice when the odds were stacked against her. Click here for more information.
Reverend James Reeb.
Reverend James Reeb was a martyr for civil rights during the Movement. While other clergy and church people rejected the message and mission of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Reeb accepted it with open arms. He was a white, Unitarian minister born in Witchita, Kan. and educated in Washington D.C. who worked and ministered in Boston. Reeb watched Blood Sunday on television, and the next day heard the call of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the clergy to join with him on the next march to Montgomery. That night, Rev. Reeb was on a plane to Selma; however, he never made it to the march. While in Selma, he was beaten and killed by a trio of white males while leaving a diner. The death of Rev. Reeb and others showed the country how much hate and violence there was in the South. The violence displayed in these vicious acts motivated the United States Government to pass the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Click here for more information.
Bayard Rustin.
Bayard Rustin was one of the right hand men of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Born and raised in West Chester, Penn., Rustin grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister; however; he was told the truth before adolescence. He went to Wilberforce University, Cheyney State Teachers College, and City College of New York. He held many beliefs that were against the norm, and because of such, he was arrested for refusing to register for the draft, protesting, and openly engaging in homosexual behavior.
Rustin met Dr. King in the 1950s and taught him a lot about nonviolent tactics like civil disobedience. He took on the role as King's organizer and strategist in 1955. He had a large role in putting together the March on Washington in 1963 and boycotting the segregated bus system in Montgomery. Later, he would also co-found the A. Phillip Randolph Institute with A. Phillip Randolph, a labor organization for African-Americans who were members of unions. Throughout his entire life, Rustin fought for justice for all peoples. Click here for more information.
John Lewis.
John Lewis was born to sharecroppers in 1940 near Troy, Alabama. He heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak on the radio and knew that he wanted to become part of the Civil Rights Movement. As a student at Fisk University, he helped organize lunch counter sit-ins and was a part of freedom rides through the South. The purpose of these rides were to protest the segregation in transportation, not just on the buses, but also at the bus depots and stations. During these freedom rides, the riders would be subject to mob-scale violence, and the police let it happen. John Lewis was also chairman of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). In this position, he helped organize sit-ins, voter registration drives, and other activities centered around civil rights. He even led a group of people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Montgomery on what became known as Bloody Sunday. Lewis is considered one the Big Six when it comes to the Civil Rights Movement. He continued in his work as an activist for civil rights, and in 1981, he began his political career when he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. He was elected to Congress in 1986 and has represented Georgia's Fifth Congressional District since then. Since John Lewis was a young man, he has been a champion for the civil rights of all people. Click here for more information.
Joseph McNeil.
Five words. Five words that would start something in Greensboro on the campus of North Carolina A&T: "I'm sick of this s**t." These were the words of Joseph McNeil as he spoke with his friends Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and Dave Richmond. This was after he had visited his parents up in Harlem, New York, and he made a stop in Richmond, Virginia. When he got off of the bus in Richmond he was frustrated at the sight of the "white only" lunch counter sign. This inspired him, when he arrived back at college, to do something about it. With his four friends, he went into Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro, bought some things to show that they were actual customers, sat down at the "white only" lunch counter, and asked to be served. Luckily, they were not met with any violence and did not have to leave until the store closed. An older woman patted them on the shoulder and told them that she was disappointed it took them so long to do something. This gave "The Greensboro Four," as they were later called, inspiration to really get involved in this movement. The very next day, these four young men brought more students to the same lunch counter. These sit-ins started a movement among young people that other sit-ins had not. There were more and more sit-ins, and eventually the organizers were receiving threatening calls. Arrests were being made at the sit-ins, but this would not put out the fire that McNeil helped to light in Greensboro, N.C.. Click here for more information.
