When one thinks about the Modern Civil Rights Movement (MCRM) that took place between 1954 and 1965, who comes to mind? Is it one of the three major figures in American history, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, or Martin Luther King Jr.? Or maybe it's Medgar Evers, Thurgood Marshall, Thurgood Marshall, James Baldwin, Stokely Carmichael, or John Lewis. What about Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin, Ella Baker, Diane Nash, Septima Poinsette Clark, Daisy Bates, Fannie Lou Hamer, or Diane Nash? What distinguishes the two groups? Why is the first group possibly more known than the second? This point can be clarified by taking a quick glance at the March on Washington, one of the MCRM's most well-known activities.

More than two hundred fifty thousand men, women, and children from all origins, classes, and religions marched for civil rights in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. Pushing for a comprehensive civil rights measure, preventing school segregation, defending the right to vote, and preventing workplace discrimination were among the objectives of the March. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were made possible by the March, which also gave rise to one of the most famous speeches in the history of the MCRM: Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Although the March promoted equality for African Americans in American society, it was primarily led by men and did not advance female equality. Originally, the official schedule barred any well-known MCRM women from speaking at the March. The March's lone female member, Anna Arnold Hedgeman, voiced her disapproval of the lack of female representation on the committee. The March's creator, A. Philip Randolph, along with the male leadership-the "Big Six": A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, John Lewis, Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young-decided to include women in a hurried, brevity of the ceremony in response.

From small communities to the national movement, women constituted the backbone of the MCRM. As activists and strategists, women were vital. Despite the risks-which included violence, homelessness, unemployment, sexual assault, and even death-they took part. Beyond its well-known story, an exploration of the MCRM will reveal its contradictions, concessions, and complexity, which contribute to a deeper comprehension of the MCRM. It is only fitting that this investigation recognize the numerous women whose blood, sweat, tears, and commitment helped achieve civil rights.

• Clark, Septima Poinsette (1898-1987): South Carolina educator Septima Poinsette Clark created the Citizenship Schools first at the Highlander Folk School and then through the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). African Americans were taught and inspired to use reading, education, and civics to achieve civil rights and strengthen their communities through the Citizenship Schools.
   
• Diane Nash (born 1938): Diane Nash became active in Nashville, Tennessee's nascent civil rights movement in 1959 while she was a student at Fisk University. She was one of the city's most well-known and well-respected student leaders by 1960. Her role in planning the Nashville sit-ins was important. She also contributed to the Freedom Rides' continued success in the Deep South. Nash was an SNCC leader.
   
• Hamer, Fannie Lou (1917-1977): Fannie Lou Hamer vigorously opposed the racial status quo by advocating for desegregation and African American voter registration throughout her civil rights activism in rural Mississippi. She fought against racial violence, segregation, and white supremacy in Mississippi as a leader of the 1964 Freedom Summer Campaign. In an effort to include African Americans in the state's Democratic Party, she also co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
   
• Dorothy Height (1912-2010): Because of her significant contributions to the civil rights movement since the 1930s, Dorothy Height was dubbed the "Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement." At a New York YMCA early in her activist career, Height met Mary McLeod Bethune, who she later became a protégé of. Height would show up to assist with event planning at MCRM.
   
• Ella Baker (1903-1986): Ella Baker played a pivotal role in setting up the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) inaugural conference at Raleigh, North Carolina's Shaw University in April 1960. Martin Luther King Jr. was convinced to contribute to the meeting by her. The SNCC would support the development of young people's energies across the country who are prepared and eager to participate in the MCRM.
   
• Angela Davis (born 1944): Following the 1963 bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which claimed the lives of four young girls, Angela Davis became a member of the MCRM. Davis's involvement in the Black Panther Party, the American Communist Party, and the Black Power Movement in California would make her more well-known.
   
• Coretta Scott King (1927-2006): Coretta Scott King studied music at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with the encouragement of her parents. During her education, she experienced prejudice and segregation, which led her to become a member of the local NAACP branch. Her marriage to Martin Luther King Jr. in 1953 catapulted her to the forefront of the MCRM. While being a devoted wife and mother, she persisted in her fight for civil rights both domestically and abroad. Upon her husband's death in 1968, she established the MLK Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, carrying on her husband's and her own tradition of fighting for civil rights.
   
• Daisy Bates (1914-1999): Daisy Bates participated actively in Arkansas's Civil Rights Movement. She and her husband were the publishers of The Arkansas Press, a weekly publication that promoted African American civil rights. She played a key role in the state's early desegregation of schools following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The nine students, dubbed the "Little Rock Nine," who were chosen to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957, received guidance, organization, and support from her.
   
• Harris, McCree (1934-2000): McCree Harris participated in the Albany, Georgia, Civil Rights Movement. She encouraged students to participate in the MCRM in her capacity as a teacher at Monroe Comprehensive High School. She sang with the Freedom Singers as well.
   
• Shirley Sherrod (born 1948): Following her father's 1965 shooting death at the hands of a white farmer, Shirley Sherrod became involved in the MCRM. She, together with her husband Charles Sherrod, organized the SNCC Southwest Georgia Project. She was a fervent supporter of African American property ownership and retention through the Southwest Georgia Project.
   
• Johnnie Carr (1911-2008): A political activist in Montgomery, Alabama, was Johnnie Carr. She collected funds in 1931 to support the nine young African American men who were falsely accused during the Scottsboro Trials. Later, she was active in the Montgomery Bus Boycotts through her NAACP chapter. Carr played a key role in the "behind-the-scenes" planning that went into the 13-month boycott.
   
• Thelma Glass (1916-2012): In addition to teaching geography at Alabama State University, Thelma Glass was active in the Women's Political Council in Montgomery, Alabama. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was mostly orchestrated by the council.
   
• Gilmore, Georgia (1920-1990): Georgia Gilmore supported the movement in Montgomery, Alabama, by utilizing her skills as a chef and restaurateur. She took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and as a result of her involvement lost her job. Her house turned into a restaurant that served as a haven for local leaders of the civil rights movement. She also started the Club From Nowhere, a group of African American women who cooked and catered to both black and white patrons with cakes and pies. The funds were used to assist with the bus boycott campaign.
   
• Ruby Dee (1922-2014): Actress Ruby Dee, who worked in both Broadway and motion pictures, actively supported the MRCM through the arts alongside her husband, Ossie Davis. She and her spouse confronted the derogatory preconceptions and submissive portrayals of African Americans in theater and cinema. Positive representations of African Americans were written by Dee and Davis, who gave African Americans unconventional starring positions. She starred in A Raisin in the Sun (1959) directed by Lorraine Hansberry and was a founding member of the Association of Artists for Freedom in 1963.
   
• Robinson, Jo Ann (1912-1992): Following a verbal attack in 1949 by a white bus driver, Montgomery, Alabama teacher Jo Ann Robinson was active with the MCRM. The Women's Political Council concentrated its efforts on planning and assisting with the Montgomery Bus Boycott under her direction. Additionally, she was a key organizer of the Montgomery Improvement Association, a community-based group that advocated for bus desegregation and civil rights. This was the first African American civil rights organization to function independently of the NAACP.
   
• Gwendolyn Simmons Zoharah (born 1944): Despite parental and college cautions, Gwendolyn Simmons joined the Student Non-Violent Registration Committee at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. During the 1964 Freedom Summer, she helped to construct schools in Mississippi. She campaigned to register African Americans to vote in Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama in the 1960s.
   
• Ruby Bridges (born 1954): Ruby Bridges was the first African American kid in Louisiana history to attend integrated schools at the age of six. When Ruby arrived at Johnson Lockett Elementary in New Orleans with her mother, she was met with jeers and threats on her first day. Ruby was escorted by U.S. Marshals.
   
• Colvin, Claudette (born 1935): Claudette Colvin, then fifteen, refused to give up her seat on a packed Montgomery bus to a white passenger nine months prior to Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks planned a protest later that year, and it was inspired by her acts. Segregated Montgomery buses were the subject of Claudette Colvin's evidence in Gayle v. Browder (1956), which contributed to the state's transportation integration.
   
• Baker, Josephine (1906-1975): In the 1920s, Josephine Baker was a well-known Broadway and motion picture actress. When she relocated to France in 1925, she carried on her career on stage. In France during World War II, Baker became a resistance fighter (1939-1945). She continued to live, travel, and perform in Europe and the US after the war.

Written By: Akanksha