The Power of Nonviolent Direct Action
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| M. Gandhi |
Written by Daniel Hunter, Training for Change www.TrainingForChange.org
Author of the book Strategy And Soul www.strategyandsoul.org
Nonviolent direct action is known by many names. Gandhi called it satyagraha (truth or
soul force). Henry Thoreau called it civil disobedience. Activists in North Philadelphia
sometimes call it street heat. In the Philippines, democracy activists call it people power.
Underneath all of these definitions are similar themes such as a use of tactics outside of
normal institutions (e.g. use of the street or fasting) and a commitment to refraining from
violence. But even more core to all of these is that direct action is about power – bringing
together people to make a united change.
A DEFINITION OF NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION
Nonviolent action are techniques outside of institutionalized behavior for social change that challenges an unjust power dynamic using methods of protest, noncooperation, and intervention without the use or threat of injurious force.
In essence, people turn to nonviolent direct action after the institutionalized ways of
settling disagreements are unsuccessful. In the civil rights movement, black people turned
to nonviolent action after years of fighting in the courts to end institutionalized
segregation. The courts did not provide the relief needed, and so nonviolent action was
born. The methods of nonviolent action lie outside institutionalized behavior.
In using these methods people either do the unexpected or what they’re forbidden to do,
for example demanding coffee at a segregated lunch counter if they're African American.
Or nonviolent action can be refusing to do what they are expected or required to do, like
pay a special tax to the English king for the tea they drink.
In the Philadelphia struggle against casinos, Casino-Free Philadelphia (CFP) turned to
nonviolent action after it became obvious the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) and then-elected officials had no interest in protecting the rights of residents and city taxpayers regarding the ills of casinos. The actions included noncooperation such as
refusing to cooperate with the PGCB’s demands that the public not speak at “public”
meetings. Other tactics were what we were not expected to do, such as the Citizens’
Document Search to get public documents made secret by the PGCB by a nonviolent
“search and seizure” to liberate the plans from their offices.1 All of those tactics put
pressure on institutions, like the PGCB, but were actions which, of themselves, were
outside tradition.
Nonviolent action, therefore, can be distinguished from other forms of doing conflict
which are within current institutions and traditions, like going to court or competing in an
election. They are not considered nonviolent action. It was not nonviolent action when
CFP collected 27,000 signatures to give citizens a vote on the question of if casinos should
be built within 1,500-feet of homes, places of worship, and schools. Getting petitions to
place a referendum on the ballot is within the City’s rules and therefore institutionalized. But when the Supreme Court stripped the question from the ballot and CFP ran Philly’s
Ballot Box – running our own election – it was nonviolent direct action.
When the courts, elected officials, and official institutions, like the City Planning
Commission, abandon their roles to protect citizens and instead act corruptly, where to
turn? People turn to nonviolent direct action after the institutional modes fail.
So why does nonviolent action work? Aren’t institutions like the Supreme Court imbued
with more power than frustrated citizens? The answer, surprisingly, is no – not when
people use their power.
IT’S ALL ABOUT POWER
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| Baba Saheb Ambedkar |
Traditionally politics is seen as flowing from the top downwards. Those on top have
power. A janitor takes orders from their supervisor who takes orders from the district
head and so on – all the way up to the President of the United States.
Most institutions in our society are viewed this way: corporations have at their top the
CEO, cities have Mayors at the top, and our legal system has a federal Supreme Court. In
that view of society everyone below has to follow orders or face consequences: such as
being fired, facing political retribution, or being placed in jail.
But that is not the only type of power.
Power also flows up. The CEO is helpless if employees refuse to take their orders. The
Mayor is helpless if the citizens withhold their financial support for his initiatives (e.g.
refuse to pay taxes), undermine his policies, and collectively refuse to go along with her
orders. The Supreme Court is disabled if cities refuse to implement their interpretation of
laws.
Direct action uses this form of power: power flowing from the bottom upwards. People
power. A group in Serbia fighting against a dictator wrote:
By themselves, rulers cannot collect taxes, enforce repressive laws and regulations, keep trains running on time, prepare national budgets, direct traffic, manage ports, print money, repair roads, keep food supplied to the markets, make steel, build rockets, train the police and the army, issue postage stamps or even milk a cow. People provide these services to the ruler through a variety of organizations and institutions. If the people stop providing these skills, the ruler cannot rule.
Casino-Free Philadelphia has regularly used this type of power to change policies. For
example, the public was not allowed to testify at the PGCB meetings for most of its
existence. Rather than accept orders from the PGCB chair that said they could not testify,
members decided to testify anyway.
At a meeting in fall 2007, several members of Casino-Free Philadelphia stood up, one at a
time, during the PGCB board meeting. and started testifying. Each one was gaveled down
and told to be quiet by the chairwoman. A recess was immediately called. The three
members who spoke – unfortunately all the designated spokespeople – were escorted out
of the building and told they would not be allowed to return.
When the board reconvened after recess, the chairwoman warned the group not to
continue to interrupt. The remainder of the group immediately stood up and attempted to
testify. Another recess was called.
When the PGCB reconvened again, the group again attempted to speak up. Finally, the
chairwoman shut down the entire PGCB meeting rather than allow people to speak.
The result: rather than risk another engagement like that, she allowed the public to speak
at the next hearing. Moreover, she initiated a larger shift in policy and now gives time for
citizens to speak at several meetings throughout the year.
Mohandas Gandhi said that ultimately the power of people lies in their choice to either
cooperate or not cooperate. Noncooperation with unjust or wrong authority is the heart of
nonviolent direct action.
This flies in the face of the old notion of power which says it flows downwards. Instead,
the theory of nonviolent action is that power flows upwards. It’s a democratic way of
viewing power by seeing that unjust authority is only in place because of the cooperation
of all of the layers below it.
That’s why people who are oppressed and disenfranchised turn to nonviolent action: it’s a
step towards empowerment to see how we have power – even if we are not powerful
politicians, judges, or mayors of a city.
NONVIOLENT ACTION REQUIRES DISCIPLINE
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| W.E.B. DuBois |
Members of Casino-Free Philadelphia could not have been successful in that action if they
did not carry themselves with respect, show respect to the humanity of the chairwoman
while disobeying her orders to be silent, and stay focused on their goals during the action.
The action is the message in nonviolent action.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. laid out four principles that he used during the civil rights
movement. We offer them because when we use people power it does require that we act
civilly, respectfully, and modeling the highest integrity we can muster:
1) Define your objectives. Injustice and violence are everywhere around us. A single
campaign or action will not remove it all. One must begin by focusing on a specific
injustice; it should be possible to discuss it in fairly simple and clear-cut terms. Decisionmaking
and negotiations during a campaign will be helped immensely if you have
defined clearly your short-range objective and your long-range goal.
2) Be honest and listen well. Part of your goal is to win your opponent's respect. Conduct
yourself in a way which encourages that respect by showing your scrupulous care for
truth and justice. A crucial part of nonviolent direct action is the understanding that no
one knows the complete truth about the issues at hand. Listening with openness to what
your opponents have to say about your campaign is very important in your pursuit of the
whole truth. Similarly, listening carefully to those who are struggling at your side helps
ensure that the oppression which you are fighting is not replaced by another oppression.
3) Love your enemies. No matter how deeply involved in unjust and violent systems
some people are, your goal is to break down those systems, not to punish others for
wrong-doing. Real justice is established when people refuse to maintain oppressive
systems, not when the people in those systems are destroyed. Nonviolence requires a
steadfast and conscious willingness to mentally separate respect for all people from
disrespect for what some people are doing in a given situation.
4) Give your opponents a way out. By using nonviolence, you are showing a kind of
strength that overcomes injustice. Avoid self-righteousness with opponents. Recognize
their weaknesses, embarrassments and fears. In specific confrontations, as well as in the
larger campaign, find a way to let them participate in finding a solution. Give them
options to respond to, not non-negotiable demands.
[These principles were first developed in the context of the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King. The present
version has been slightly revised for international use by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation]
While many would never even consider violent actions, the purpose of clarifying nonviolent action is to limit the actions of participants to only those within a framework of
disciplined, unified action. Casino-Free Philadelphia uses the following Nonviolent Action
Guidelines in all of its direct actions, which are agreed upon by all participants.
In our actions, we will...
✦ bring humor;
✦ adopt a dignified, open and friendly attitude towards anybody we encounter;
✦ demonstrate our creativity in the use of new slogans, songs, and props;
✦ keep our calm, and our eyes on the prize.
In our actions, we will not...
✦ bring weapons;
✦ use verbal or physical violence;
✦ damage property;
✦ use drugs or alcohol;
✦ hide our identity behind hoods or masks;
✦ risk arrest without the required training;
✦ run, as it contributes to heightening tensions for everybody.
By setting clear agreed upon guidelines we ensure mutual respect. We know what people
around us will and will not do. No provocation will get us off our message.
THE ACTION IS THE MESSAGE
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| Alice Paul |
Nonviolent action differs from other forms of protest that are fundamentally about asking
for our rights. Strategic nonviolent action is about acting for our rights.
Strategic nonviolent action gives us a basis for mutual trust, greater public support, and a
focused channel to highlight injustice.
In strategic nonviolent action our action is our message. For example, Casino-Free
Philadelphia ran a direct action campaign called Operation Transparency in the fall of
2007. The PGCB refused to make public their documents, such as updated site plans and
traffic plans. No meaningful public input could be made without access to such basic
documents.
The goal was to get the PGCB to stop violating our right to know and release the hidden
documents. If they did not release the documents by our December 1 deadline, we vowed
to go to their offices in Harrisburg to carry out a “citizens’ document search” to make the
documents public ourselves. The citizens’ document search is a direct action tactic first
designed in Ottawa, which we had learned about and brought to our work.
Operation Transparency lasted for two-months, with small media-friendly actions like
washing the PGCB’s windows to help them become more transparent. After the deadline
passed, the documents still had not been released.
Fourteen people carried out the citizens’ document search. Two at a time, people stepped
forward. They read a “citizens’ search warrant” and asked the PGCB to release the
documents. They walked forward and were promptly arrested.
All were later found to be “Not Guilty” by a judge who scolded the PGCB’s behavior. The
judge virtually invited us to return to Harrisburg and do it again if the PGCB did not
release the documents and become transparent. Public pressure mounted.
The power of direct action was that our refusal – our noncooperation – resulted in new
allies coming to our sides, an increase in dramatic tension for the PGCB, and shed light on
the clarity of the wrongfulness of their position.
Without direct action, most pundits would not be citing how bad the PGCB’s behavior has
been. They would ignore it, just like most ignore most forms of public abuse.
(In fact, while we are on the topic of the media, you can see in their reporting how the
media is biased towards a top-down view of power. Their insistence that the casinos are
inevitable is because they believe power flows from the top. Like politicians, they are not
used to power flowing from the bottom. Without us exerting it often enough, why should
they see it flow any other way?)
Instead, though, the press consistently reported the action: citizens attempting to get
documents that the PGCB was hiding. Several reporters got very involved and began
asking the PGCB what was their reason for hiding the documents and why weren’t they
releasing them.
Asking the PGCB for the documents via a public request would not have done that. (We
previously did public requests and were consistently rejected.) Even a rally would not
have that result. We needed a media-friendly, savvy way to highlight the injustice. The
strategic value: show, don’t tell.
Unlike a strategy which merely asks the government to do the right thing, nonviolent
action sees that when people withdraw their consent from an unjust system, it can be
forced to give them what they want. The citizens’ document search is a classic tactic for
that: use our power as citizens to apply power and pressure to our institutions.
It is not reliant upon the current system to give us what we want. It is about using our
political power to get it.
In that way, nonviolent direct action is much more powerful than traditional marches or
rallies, which are merely protests asking the government to do the right thing. Nonviolent
direct action highlights the injustice by acting in congruence with what we want: we
believe we have a right to the documents. Then we won’t be satisfied when our rights are
denied – we will go take them ourselves.
Nonviolence is thus more than protesting and more than a philosophy of not harming
people.
Now that’s power to the people.
198 Methods of Nonviolent Action
THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION
Formal Statements
1. Public Speeches
2. Letters of opposition or support
3. Declarations by organizations and institutions
4. Signed public statements
5. Declarations of indictment and intention
6. Group or mass petitions
Communications with a Wider Audience
7. Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
8. Banners, posters, displayed communications
9. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
10. Newspapers and journals
11. Records, radio, and television
12. Skywriting and earthwriting
Group Representations
13. Deputations
14. Mock awards
15. Group lobbying
16. Picketing
17. Mock elections
Symbolic Public Acts
18. Displays of flags and symbolic colors
19. Wearing of symbols
20. Prayer and worship
21. Delivering symbolic objects
22. Protest disrobings
23. Destruction of own property
24. Symbolic lights
25. Displays of portraits
26. Paint as protest
27. New signs and names
28. Symbolic sounds
29. Symbolic reclamations
30. Rude gestures
Pressures on Individuals
31. “Haunting” officials
32. Taunting officials
33. Fraternization
34. Vigils
Drama and Music
35. Humorous skits and pranks
36. Performances of plays and music
37. Singing
Processions
38. Marches
39. Parades
40. Religious processions
41. Pilgrimages
42. Motorcades
Honoring the Dead
43. Political mourning
44. Mock funerals
45. Demonstrative funerals
46. Homage at burial places
Public Assemblies
47. Assemblies of protest or support
48. Protest meetings
49. Camouflaged meetings of protest
50. Teach-ins
Withdrawal and Renunciation
51. Walk-outs
52. Silence
53. Renouncing honors
54. Turning one’s back
THE METHODS OF SOCIAL NONCOOPERATION
Ostracism of Persons
55. Social boycott
56. Selective social boycott
57. Lysistratic nonaction
58. Excommunication
59. Interdict
Noncooperation with Social Events, Customs, and Institutions
60. Suspension of social and sports activities
61. Boycott of social affairs
62. Student strike
63. Social disobedience
64. Withdrawal from social institutions
Withdrawal from the Social System
65. Stay-at-home
66. Total personal noncooperation
67. “Flight” of workers
68. Sanctuary
69. Collective disappearance
70. Protest emigration (hijrat )
THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOPERATION: ECONOMIC BOYCOTTS
Actions by Consumers
71. Consumers’ boycott
72. Nonconsumption of boycotted goods
73. Policy of austerity
74. Rent withholding
75. Refusal to rent
76. National consumers’ boycott
77. International consumers’ boycott
Action by Workers and Producers
78. Workmen’s boycott
79. Producers’ boycott
Action by Middlemen
80. Suppliers’ and handlers’ boycott
Action by Owners and Management
81. Traders’ boycott
82. Refusal to let or sell property
83. Lockout
84. Refusal of industrial assistance
85. Merchants’ “general strike”
Action by Holders of Financial Resources
86. Withdrawal of bank deposits
87. Refusal to pay fees, dues, and assessments
88. Refusal to pay debts or interest
89. Severance of funds and credit
90. Revenue refusal
91. Refusal of a government’s money
Action by Governments
92. Domestic embargo
93. Blacklisting of traders
94. International sellers’ embargo
95. International buyers’ embargo
96. International trade embargo
THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOPERATION:
THE STRIKE
Symbolic Strikes
97. Protest strike
98. Quickie walkout (lightning strike)
Agricultural Strikes
99. Peasant strike
100. Farm Workers’ strike
Strikes by Special Groups
101. Refusal of impressed labor
102. Prisoners’ strike
103. Craft strike
104. Professional strike
Ordinary Industrial Strikes
105. Establishment strike
106. Industry strike
107. Sympathetic strike
Restricted Strikes
108. Detailed strike
109. Bumper strike
110. Slowdown strike
111. Working-to-rule strike
112. Reporting “sick” (sick-in)
113. Strike by resignation
114. Limited strike
115. Selective strike
Multi-Industry Strikes
116. Generalized strike
117. General strike
Combination of Strikes and Economic Closures
118. Hartal
119. Economic shutdown
THE METHODS OF POLITICAL NONCOOPERATION
Rejection of Authority
120. Withholding or withdrawal of allegiance
121. Refusal of public support
122. Literature and speeches advocating resistance
Citizens’ Noncooperation with Government
123. Boycott of legislative bodies
124. Boycott of elections
125. Boycott of government employment and positions
126. Boycott of government depts., agencies, and other bodies
127. Withdrawal from government educational institutions
128. Boycott of government-supported organizations
129. Refusal of assistance to enforcement agents
130. Removal of own signs and placemarks
131. Refusal to accept appointed officials
132. Refusal to dissolve existing institutions
Citizens’ Alternatives to Obedience
133. Reluctant and slow compliance
134. Nonobedience in absence of direct supervision
135. Popular nonobedience
136. Disguised disobedience
137. Refusal of an assemblage or meeting to disperse
138. Sitdown
139. Noncooperation with conscription and deportation
140. Hiding, escape, and false identities
141. Civil disobedience of “illegitimate” laws
Action by Government Personnel
142. Selective refusal of assistance by government aides
143. Blocking of lines of command and information
144. Stalling and obstruction
145. General administrative noncooperation
146. Judicial noncooperation
147. Deliberate inefficiency and selective noncooperation by enforcement agents
148. Mutiny
Domestic Governmental Action
149. Quasi-legal evasions and delays
150. Noncooperation by constituent governmental units
International Governmental Action
151. Changes in diplomatic and other representations
152. Delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
153. Withholding of diplomatic recognition
154. Severance of diplomatic relations
155. Withdrawal from international organizations
156. Refusal of membership in international bodies
157. Expulsion from international organizations
THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT INTERVENTION
Psychological Intervention
158. Self-exposure to the elements
159. The fast
a) Fast of moral pressure
b) Hunger strike
c) Satyagrahic fast
160. Reverse trial
161. Nonviolent harassment
Physical Intervention
162. Sit-in
163. Stand-in
164. Ride-in
165. Wade-in
166. Mill-in
167. Pray-in
168. Nonviolent raids
169. Nonviolent air raids
170. Nonviolent invasion
171. Nonviolent interjection
172. Nonviolent obstruction
173. Nonviolent occupation
Social Intervention
174. Establishing new social patterns
175. Overloading of facilities
176. Stall-in
177. Speak-in
178. Guerrilla theater
179. Alternative social institutions
180. Alternative communication system
Economic Intervention
181. Reverse strike
182. Stay-in strike
183. Nonviolent land seizure
184. Defiance of blockades
185. Politically motivated counterfeiting
186. Preclusive purchasing
187. Seizure of assets
188. Dumping
189. Selective patronage
190. Alternative markets
191. Alternative transportation systems
192. Alternative economic institutions
Political Intervention
193. Overloading of administrative systems
194. Disclosing identities of secret agents
195. Seeking imprisonment
196. Civil disobedience of “neutral” laws
197. Work-on without collaboration
198. Dual sovereignty and parallel government
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Source:
web:
www.aeinstein.org
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List of civil rights leaders
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| Betty Friedan |
Civil rights leaders are influential figures in the promotion and implementation of political freedom and the expansion of personal liberties. They work to protect individuals and groups from political repression and discrimination by governments and private organizations, and seek to ensure the ability of all members of society to participate in the civil and political life of the state. Civil rights include individual rights to equal protection and service, privacy, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to travel, freedom of worship, protection of civil liberties, the right to vote, and the right to freely share ideas and opinions through all forms of communication and media. People who motivated themselves and then led others to gain and protect these rights include:
1. Ralph Abernathy (1926–1990) - American activist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) official
2. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) - Indian activist for caste abolition, writer, philosopher, economist, co-wrote and influenced Indian constitution which focused on social rights.
3. Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) - American Women's suffrage leader, speaker, inspiration
4. Ella Baker (1903–1986) - American SCLC activist, initiated the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
5. James Baldwin (1924–1987) - American essayist, novelist, public speaker, SNCC activist
6. Daisy Bates (1914–1999)
7. Dana Beal (1947– ) - American pro-hemp activist, organizer, speaker, initiator
8. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) - British philosopher, writer, and teacher on civil rights, inspiration
9. James Bevel (1936–2008) - American organizer and Direct Action leader, SCLC's main strategist, movement initiator, and movement director.
10. Claude Black (1916–2009)
11. Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825-1921) - founded American Woman Suffrage Association with Lucy Stone in 1869
12. Julian Bond (1940–) - American activist, politician, scholar, lawyer, NAACP chairman
13. Lenny Bruce - free speech advocate, comedian, political satirist
14. Lucy Burns (1879–1966) - American women's suffrage/voting rights leader
15. Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998) - American SNCC and Black Panther activist, organizer, speaker
16. Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947) - suffrage leader, president National American Woman Suffrage Association, founder League of Women Voters and International Alliance of Women
17. Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) - Chicano activist, organizer, trade unionist,inspiration
18. Claudette Colvin (1939–) - American Montgomery Bus Boycott pioneer, independent activist
19. Marvel Cooke (1903–2000) - American journalist, writer, trade unionist
20. Humberto "Bert" Corona (1918–2001) - labor and civil rights leader
21. Dorothy Cotton (1930–) - American SCLC official, activist, organizer, and leader
22. Eugene Debs (1855–1926) - American organizer, campaigner for the poor, women, dissenters, prisoners
23. Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) - American abolitionist, women's rights and suffrage advocate, writer, organizer, inspiration
24. W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) - American writer, scholar, founder of NAACP
25. Charles Evers (1922–) - American civil rights movement activist
26. Medgar Evers (1925–1963) - American, NAACP official in the Mississippi Movement
27. James Farmer (1920–1999) - Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) leader and activist
28. Louis Farrakhan (1933–) - American, Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam
29. James Forman (1928–2005) - American SNCC official and civil rights movement activist
30. Marie Foster (1917–2003) - American voting rights activist, a local leader in the Selma Voting Rights Movement
31. Frankie Muse Freeman (1916-) American civil rights attorney, and the first woman to be appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights
32. Betty Friedan (1921–2006) - American writer, women's rights activist, feminist
33. Kasturba Gandhi (1869 – 1944) wife of Mohandas Gandhi, activist in South Africa and India, often led her husband's movements in India when he was imprisoned.
34. Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) - Indian activist and movement leader, writer, philosopher, teacher, inspiration
35. William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) - writer, organizer, feminist, initiator
36. Dick Gregory - American free speech advocate and activist in the civil rights movement, comedian
37. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793) - French women's rights pioneer, writer, beheaded during French Revolution
38. Prathia Hall (1940–2002) - American SNCC activist, a leading speaker in the civil rights movement
39. Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977) - activist in Mississippi movements
40. Harry Hay (1912–2002) - early leader in American LGBT rights movement, founder Mattachine Society
41. Lola Hendricks (1932–) - activist, local leader in Birmingham Movement
42. Jack Herer (1939–2010) - American pro-hemp activist, speaker, organizer, author
43. Gordon Hirabayashi (1918–2012) - Japanese-American civil rights hero
44. Myles Horton (1905–1990) - American teacher of nonviolence, pioneer activist, founded and led the Highlander Folk School
45. T.R.M. Howard (1908–1976) - founder of Mississippi's Regional Council of Negro Leadership
46. Julia Ward Howe (1818–1910) - American writer, organizer, suffragette
47. Dolores Huerta (1930– ) - American labor and civil rights activist, initiator, organizer
48. John Peters Humphrey (1905–1995) - author of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
49. Jesse Jackson (1941–) - American clergyman, activist, politician
50. Nellie Stone Johnson (1905–2002) - labor and civil rights activist
51. Toyohiko Kagawa (1888 – 1960) - Japanese labour activist, Christian reformer, author
52. Meir Kahane - controversial Jewish rights leader, founder of the Jewish Defense League
53. Abby Kelley (1811–1887) - American abolitionist and suffragette
54. Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) - American SCLC leader, activist, inspiration
55. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) - SCLC co-founder/president/chairman, activist, author, speaker, inspiration
56. James Lawson (1928–) - American minister and activist, SCLC's teacher of nonviolence in late 1950's and early 1960a civil rights movement
57. Bernard Lafayette (1940–) - American SCLC and SNCC activist, organizer, and leader
58. John Lewis (1940–) - American Nashville Student Movement and SNCC activist, organizer, speaker, inspiration
59. Sigmund Livingston (1872-1946) - Jewish rights activist, founder of the Anti-Defamation League
60. Joseph Lowery (1921–) - American SCLC leader and co-founder, activist
61. Clara Luper (1923–2011) - American sit-in movement leader in Oklahoma, activist
62. James Madison (1751–1836) - American founding father, introduced and lobbied for the U.S. Bill of Rights
63. Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) - South African statesman, leading figure in anti-apartheid movement, inspiration
64. George Mason (1725–1792) - American who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and influenced U.S. Bill of Rights
65. Rigoberta Menchú (1959) - Guatemalan indigenous rights leader, co-founder Nobel Women's Initiative
66. James Meredith (1933–) - American independent student leader and self–starting Mississippi activist
67. Mamie Till Bradley Mobley - American who held an open casket funeral for her son, Emmett Till; speaker, activist
68. Charles Morgan, Jr. (1930–2009) - attorney, established principle of "one man, one vote"
69. Harvey Milk (1930–1978) - American politician, gay rights activist and leader, inspiration
70. Bob Moses (1935–) - leader, activist, and organizer in '60s Mississippi Movement
71. Diane Nash (1938–) - American SNCC and SCLC activist and official, strategist, organizer
72. Edgar Nixon (1899–1987) - Montgomery Bus Boycott organizer, civil rights activist
73. James Orange (1942–2008) - American SCLC activist and organizer, a voting rights movement leader, trade unionist
74. Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) - a founder and the leader of the British Suffragette Movement
75. Rosa Parks (1913–2005) - NAACP official, activist, Montgomery Bus Boycott inspiration
76. Alice Paul (1885–1977) - American 1910's Women's Voting Rights Movement leader, strategist, and organizer
77. Thomas Paine (1737-1809) - English-American activist, author, theorist, wrote Rights of Man
78. Elizabeth Peratrovich (1911–1958) - Alaska activist for native people
79. A. Philip Randolph (1889–1979) - American labor and civil rights movement leader
80. Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911–) - Selma Voting Rights Movement activist and early leader
81. Jo Ann Robinson (1912–1992) - Montgomery Bus Boycott activist.
82. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) - women's rights and human rights activist both in the United States and in the United Nations
83. Bayard Rustin (1912–1987) - American civil rights activist
84. Sonia Schlesin (1888–1956) - worked with Mohandas Gandhi in South Africa and led his movements there when he was absent.
85. Al Sharpton (1954–) - American clergyman, activist, media
86. Charles Sherrod - American civil rights activist, SNCC leader
87. Judy Shepard (1952–) - gay rights activist, public speaker
88. Kate Sheppard (1847–1934) - New Zealand suffragist in first country to have universal suffrage
89. Fred Shuttlesworth (1922–2011) - American clergyman, activist, SCLC co-founder, initiated the Birmingham Movement
90. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) - American women's suffrage/women's rights leader
91. Gloria Steinem (1934–) - writer, activist, feminist
92. Lucy Stone (1818–1893) - women's suffrage/voting rights leader
93. Thich Quang Duc (1897–1963) - Vietnamese monk, freedom of religion self-martyr
94. Desmond Tutu (1931–) - South African anti-apartheid organizer, advocate, inspiration
95. Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895) - German writer, organizer, and the pioneer of the modern LGBT rights movement.
96. C.T. Vivian (1924–) - American student civil rights leader, SNCC activist
97. Wyatt Tee Walker - American activist and organizer with NAACP, CORE, and SCLC
98. Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) - journalist, early activist in 20th Century Civil Rights Movement, women's suffrage/voting rights activist
99. Walter Francis White (1895–1955) - American NAACP executive secretary
100. Elie Wiesel - (1928–) Jewish rights leader
101. Roy Wilkins - (1901–1981) American NAACP executive secretary/executive director
102. Frances Willard (1839–1898) - American women's rights activist, suffrage leader
103. Hosea Williams (1926–2000) - American civil rights activist, an SCLC organizer and strategist
104. Victoria Woodhull (1838–1927) - American suffragette organizer, women's rights leader
105. Malcolm X (1925–1965) - American author, speaker, activist, inspiration
106. Andrew Young (1932–) - American SCLC activist and executive director
107. Whitney M. Young, Jr. (1921–1971) - Exec. Director National Urban League, advisor to U.S. Presidents
108. William Wilberforce (1759-1833) - leader of English abolition movement
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