Activism & Social Change

Champions of justice, equality, and human rights who fought to change the world.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

1818–1895 · Abolitionist, orator, writer

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony

1820–1906 · Women's suffrage pioneer

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

1820–1910 · Founder of modern nursing

1822–1913 · Underground Railroad conductor

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst

1858–1928 · British suffragette leader

1907–1964 · Silent Spring, environmental movement

1910–1997 · Missionary of Charity in Calcutta

1913–2005 · Mother of the civil rights movement

1929–1945 · Diary of a Young Girl, Holocaust victim

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

1929–1968 · "I Have a Dream," civil rights leader

1931–2021 · Anti-apartheid cleric, Nobel Peace Prize

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai

1940–2011 · Kenyan environmentalist, first African woman Nobel laureate

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi

1945–present · Myanmar democracy leader, Nobel laureate

Rigoberta Menchú

Rigoberta Menchú

1959–present · Indigenous rights leader, Nobel Peace Prize

1961–1997 · People's Princess, humanitarian

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai

1997–present · Youngest Nobel Prize laureate, education advocate

2003–present · Youth climate activist, Fridays for Future

Key Events in Activism & Social Change

1776 Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense

1787 Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded

1791 Olympe de Gouges writes Declaration of the Rights of Woman

1833 Slavery Abolition Act passed in British Empire

1848 Seneca Falls Convention for women's rights

1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued

1893 New Zealand grants women the right to vote

1903 Emmeline Pankhurst founds the WSPU

1920 19th Amendment grants US women the right to vote

1930 Gandhi leads the Salt March

1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted

1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott begins

1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivers 'I Have a Dream' speech

1964 Civil Rights Act signed into US law

1969 Stonewall riots spark LGBTQ rights movement

1973 American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee

1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines

1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China

1990 Nelson Mandela released; apartheid dismantled

2011 Arab Spring uprisings spread across Middle East

2017 #MeToo movement gains global momentum

2018 Greta Thunberg begins school strikes for climate