Celebs Who've Played Civil Rights Icons

These actors stepped into historical shoes.

/content/dam/betcom/images/2017/02/Shows/bet-star-cinema/022717-shows-bet-star-cinema-all-the-films-denzel-should-have-won-1.jpg
5884803ai
Jackie Robinson as himself - Three years after joining the Brooklyn Dodgers — breaking Major League Baseball’s long-standing color barrier — Jackie Robinson found himself playing, well, himself in the biographical film The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950. After retiring in ‘57, the baseball Hall of Famer served on the board of the NAACP and co-founded the Freedom National Bank — a Black-owned and operated commercial bank based in Harlem. (Photo: Courtesy of RKO Radio Pictures, Inc)
Angela Bassett as Betty Shabazz \r - A year before her Oscar nod for playing Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It, Angela Bassett starred in 1992’s Malcolm X as Betty Shabazz, wife of the slain Black nationalist leader. Three years later, she reprised her role — albeit a cameo — as Mrs. Shabazz for the film Panther, about the Black Panther Party.\r\r\r\r(Photo: Courtesy of Largo International)081811-celebs-civil-rights-icons-denzel-washington-malcolm-x.jpg

Next Gallery

12 Powerful Quotes from Black Women Athletes to Inspire Greatness

12 Photos

2 / 14

ADVERTISEMENT