Rosa Parks her biggest contribution was the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Like most other people she depended on the buses to get to work. In Montgomery, the first ten seats of every bus were reserved for white passengers, and the blacks could not sit in them, ever, even if there was no white person on the bus at the time. The back seats on the bus were for the blacks and if there are no white seats left and the whites needed a seat the blacks were forced to get up and stand. Some of the bus drivers had a practice; they would make the blacks pay at the front and then he would make them get off the bus and get on at the back of the bus. Some of the bus drivers would take off with out the blacks after they had paid their money at the front of the bus as they were trying to get on the back of the bus. One day, when Rosa was riding the bus, she recognized the bus driver, his name was James F. Blake, he was one of the bus drivers who had the practice of driving off without the blacks. Rosa got on the bus and sat down. Later, a white person got on the bus and needed a seat. Blake asked four black people to get up for the one white person all of the blacks refused at first. Blake asked again and said they would be arrested if they did not move. The other black people got up but Rosa refused. Rosa Parks was arrested and had a trial. The African-Americans in Montgomery protested Rosa’s arrest and a boycott was held against the Montgomery, Alabama buses.

Andrew Goodman The lynching of the three young men occurred shortly after midnight on June 21, 1964, when they went to investigate the burning of a church that supported civil rights activity.

Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King's 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail inspired a growing national civil rights movement. In BirminghamLetter from Birmingham Jail Birmingham, the goal was to completely end the system of segregation in every aspect of public life (stores, no separate bathrooms and drinking fountains, etc.) and in job discrimination. Also in 1963, King led a massive march on Washington DCWashington DC where he delivered his now famous, I Have A Dream speech. King's tactics of active nonviolence (sit-ins, protest marches) had put civil-rights squarely on the national agenda.I Have A Dream

Thurgood Marshall Marshall promoted affirmative action to remedy the damage remaining from slavery and racial bias (Williams). He made it clear that although racial segregation was legally over, much more needed to be done to give equal education opportunities to Blacks to erase the economic disparity between Blacks and Whites. In his early years on the Court, he was part of the liberal majority, but the Court became increasingly conservative through Republican appointments in the 1970s and 1980s, and from then on he was often a dissenting voice. Thurgood Marsha managed to secure protection under the law for women, children, prisoners and the homeless, giving them a greater claim to the full rights of citizenship in America (Williams). Marshall rejected King's peaceful protests as rhetorical lightweights which had no permanent effect on society. He also rejected the violence of Malcolm X and his idea of building a separate Black nation. Marshall was

A. Philip Randolph In 1941, Randolph planned to organize some 100,000 African- Americans to march in Washington, D.C. "for jobs in national defense and equal integration in the fighting forces." Ultimately, he cancelled the march when President Franklin Roosevelt agreed to end discrimination in war employment. Randolph would finally see his original plan in action in 1963 when he and several other prominent black leaders rallied some 250,000 people in a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Mary Ann Cary While based in Toronto she published and edited the anti-slavery newspaper, Provincial Freeman. The newspaper included several articles illustrating the role played by women in the emancipation struggle and argued against all forms of gender discrimination. In 1869, at the age of forty-six, became the first woman student at the Howard University Law School. While studying for her degree Cary worked with Frederick Douglass on the National Era newspaper. Her articles often dealt with women's suffrage and in 1871 Cary and sixty-three other women attempted to register to vote in Washington. Cary was also the founder of the Colored Women's Progressive Franchise Association in In her final years Cary campaigned for training programmes for equal rights, an increase in the number of occupations open to women, co- operative stores and local labour bureaus. Mary Ann Cary died on 5th June, 1893.Howard University Law School Frederick Douglasswomen's suffrage