Black History Month: Top 3 Inspirational Black Figures

When it comes to pioneers in African American history, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Harriet Tubman come to mind; however, is everyone fully aware of how much impact they have had with their contributions to civil rights, politics, the arts, and beyond? By looking at the top three figures that have changed Black history, we can begin to understand why these individuals are so widely celebrated today, so read on for a quick history on Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Harriet Tubman.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s. He led non-violent protests for the rights of all people including African Americans and hoped that the world could form a society where a race would not impact a person’s civil rights. “King became the leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott when it broke out in 1955. That year-long non-violent protest, which led to a Supreme Court ruling against bus segregation, brought King to the attention of the country, and led to the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC, an alliance of black Southern churches and ministers. This group elected King their president and began looking for other civil rights battles to fight.” He delivering his famous I Have a Dream speech in 1963 at the March on Washington, which went down in history and is still cited today.

Rosa Parks

On the 1^st of December 1955, Rosa Park “was riding a crowded Montgomery city bus when the driver, upon noticing that there were white passengers standing in the aisle, asked Parks and other Black passengers to surrender their seats and stand. Three of the passengers left their seats, but Parks refused. She was subsequently arrested and fined $10 for the offense and $4 for court costs, neither of which she paid. Instead, she accepted Montgomery NAACP chapter president E.D. Nixon’s offer to help her appeal the conviction and thus challenge legal segregation in Alabama.” On the 13^th of November 1956, “the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision declaring Montgomery’s segregated bus seating unconstitutional, and a court order to integrate the buses was served on” the 20^th of December that year.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery and escaped in 1849 to become a leading abolitionist. She risked her life and led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad, an elaborate secret network of safe houses. After the Civil War ended, Tubman dedicated her life to helping impoverished former slaves and the elderly.