Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement

Contributions Black women made to civil rights movement.

At the Frontlines - Their names don't resonate like Rosa Parks, who will forever be remembered for courageously refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, but these and countless other African-American women made extraordinary sacrifices for and contributions to the civil rights movement. These are their stories. (Photos from left: Courtesy of Library of Congress, Courtesy of the University of Alabama, Courtesy of Montgomery County Alabama Archives)

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At the Frontlines - Their names don't resonate like Rosa Parks, who will forever be remembered for courageously refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, but these and countless other African-American women made extraordinary sacrifices for and contributions to the civil rights movement. These are their stories. (Photos from left: Courtesy of Library of Congress, Courtesy of the University of Alabama, Courtesy of Montgomery County Alabama Archives)

Jo Ann Gibson Robinson - Jo Ann Gibson Robison played an instrumental role in the Montgomery bus boycott and mimeographed tens of thousands of handbills calling for the protest after Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. She also participated in the carpool system that enabled the boycott to continue beyond one day and was the editor of the Montgomery Improvement Association newsletter. Martin Luther King Jr. said she "perhaps more than any other person, was active on every level of the protest."  (Photo: Courtesy of Montgomery County Alabama Archives)

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Jo Ann Gibson Robinson - Jo Ann Gibson Robison played an instrumental role in the Montgomery bus boycott and mimeographed tens of thousands of handbills calling for the protest after Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. She also participated in the carpool system that enabled the boycott to continue beyond one day and was the editor of the Montgomery Improvement Association newsletter. Martin Luther King Jr. said she "perhaps more than any other person, was active on every level of the protest."  (Photo: Courtesy of Montgomery County Alabama Archives)

Fannie Lou Hamer - Fannie Lou Hamer was a sharecropper who co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, an alternative to the state's Democratic Party. She was beaten and jailed in 1962 for trying to register to vote. Two years later, Hamer delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Courtesy of Library of Congress)

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Fannie Lou Hamer - Fannie Lou Hamer was a sharecropper who co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, an alternative to the state's Democratic Party. She was beaten and jailed in 1962 for trying to register to vote. Two years later, Hamer delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Courtesy of Library of Congress)

Ella Baker - Ella Baker organized the Young Negroes Cooperative League in New York City and was a national director for the NAACP. She also helped form the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, was a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and helped the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee support civil rights activism on college campuses. (Photo: Courtesy of Library of Congress)

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Ella Baker - Ella Baker organized the Young Negroes Cooperative League in New York City and was a national director for the NAACP. She also helped form the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, was a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and helped the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee support civil rights activism on college campuses. (Photo: Courtesy of Library of Congress)

Septima Poinsette Clark - Educator and active NAACP member Septima Poinsette Clark fought for equal pay for Black teachers in South Carolina. She later lost her job because teachers in the state were prohibited from being members of the civil rights organization. She later developed citizenship schools for which she trained more than 10,000 teachers and registered hundreds of thousands of Black voters. (Photo: Courtesy of Highlander Research and Education Center)

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Septima Poinsette Clark - Educator and active NAACP member Septima Poinsette Clark fought for equal pay for Black teachers in South Carolina. She later lost her job because teachers in the state were prohibited from being members of the civil rights organization. She later developed citizenship schools for which she trained more than 10,000 teachers and registered hundreds of thousands of Black voters. (Photo: Courtesy of Highlander Research and Education Center)

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Vivian Malone Jones - Vivian Malone Jones was one of two students who defied Alabama Gov. George Wallace to enroll in the University of Alabama. After earning a degree in business management, she went to work in the civil rights division at the Justice Department. In 1996, she was the inaugural recipient of the George Wallace Family Foundation's Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage. (Photo: Courtesy of the University of Alabama)

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Vivian Malone Jones - Vivian Malone Jones was one of two students who defied Alabama Gov. George Wallace to enroll in the University of Alabama. After earning a degree in business management, she went to work in the civil rights division at the Justice Department. In 1996, she was the inaugural recipient of the George Wallace Family Foundation's Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage. (Photo: Courtesy of the University of Alabama)

Mary Fair Burks - As co-founder of the Alabama-based Women's Political Council, Mary Fair Burks helped organize and lead the Montgomery bus boycott. As an adolescent, she launched her own "private guerilla warfare" by defying Jim Crow rules to use white-only restrooms and other facilities. (Photo: Courtesy of Montgomery Advertiser)

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Mary Fair Burks - As co-founder of the Alabama-based Women's Political Council, Mary Fair Burks helped organize and lead the Montgomery bus boycott. As an adolescent, she launched her own "private guerilla warfare" by defying Jim Crow rules to use white-only restrooms and other facilities. (Photo: Courtesy of Montgomery Advertiser)

Diane Nash - While a student at Fisk University, Diane Nash became the chairperson of the lunch counter sit-in movement. She also was a co-founder of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and organized the Freedom Ride from Alabama to Mississippi.  (Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images)

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Diane Nash - While a student at Fisk University, Diane Nash became the chairperson of the lunch counter sit-in movement. She also was a co-founder of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and organized the Freedom Ride from Alabama to Mississippi.  (Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images)

Clara Luper - More than a year before students in Greensboro, North Carolina, began a protest at Woolworth's lunch counter, Clara Luper, the adviser to the local NAACP's Youth Council, organized sit-in at Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City in 1958. As a result, the Katz chain integrated its lunch counters in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, which inspired NAACP branches across the nation to conduct sit-in protests. The group forced establishments around the state to end segregation in public accommodations. She also participated in many civil rights protests and was jailed more than 20 times for her activism. (Photo: AP Photo/Ty Russell, File)

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Clara Luper - More than a year before students in Greensboro, North Carolina, began a protest at Woolworth's lunch counter, Clara Luper, the adviser to the local NAACP's Youth Council, organized sit-in at Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City in 1958. As a result, the Katz chain integrated its lunch counters in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, which inspired NAACP branches across the nation to conduct sit-in protests. The group forced establishments around the state to end segregation in public accommodations. She also participated in many civil rights protests and was jailed more than 20 times for her activism. (Photo: AP Photo/Ty Russell, File)

Daisy Bates - She was a journalist who also fought for civil rights and social reform. In 1952, she headed the Arkansas branch of the NAACP and helped in the desegregation of schools in Little Rock. (Photo: New York Times Co./Getty Images)

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Daisy Bates - As president of the Arkansas NAACP, Daisy Bates was the driving force behind the Little Rock Nine, a group of students who gained national attention for integrating an all-white high school. (Photo: New York Times Co./Getty Images)