Voting rights icons have been instrumental in laying the foundation for securing and maintaining the right to vote for African Americans in the United States. Their struggles against many challenges and hardships led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, among other gains. Throughout U.S. history, various activists have continued to promote and model the ideals of the Voting Rights Act and of the people who secured its passage. These people involved in the fight for voting rights, both past and present, have ensured that the freedom to vote is a fundamental right for everyone.
Ida B. Wells was a journalist and activist who campaigned against lynching and racial violence and fought for women’s suffrage as a way to empower black women politically. She challenged the racism of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the National American Woman Suffrage Association, two of the leading organizations of the US suffragette movement. In 1913 she co-founded the Alpha Suffrage Club, and marched defiantly in the women's suffrage parade in Washington, DC.
Mary Church Terrell was a well-known African American activist, educator, and author who championed racial equality and women’s suffrage in the late 19th and early 20th century. She was a leader in the African American women’s club movement and was the co-founder and first president of the National Association of Colored Women.
Ella Baker was a civil rights activist and grassroots organizer who co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She was active in the NAACP, SCLC, and SNCC, and helped coordinate SNCC’s Freedom Rides campaign in 1961. She was an important mentor to SNCC activists and believed that empowering ordinary people was more important than charismatic leadership within the civil rights movement.
Fannie Lou Hamer was an American civil rights, voting rights, and women's rights activist. She was the co-founder and vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She also founded the Freedom Farm Collective and co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus.
