The history of democracy in the United States has not always been characterized by wide participation or inclusiveness. Over the past two-and-a-half centuries, the nation has transformed from thirteen states along the Eastern Seaboard governed by a white, male, land-owning elite to a vast country led by an increasingly heterogeneous population.
Among the greatest achievements of the last century were the many successful campaigns to strike down long-standing segregationist laws and social practices. While such changes were ultimately enacted in the courts and legislatures, the struggles to secure them were principally carried out where discrimination dominated. As such, the nation’s polls, buses, schools, and countless other places became battlegrounds in the fight for equal rights.
The individuals represented here are just a few of the countless citizens who have worked to advance the status of women; racial and ethnic minorities; LGBTQ+ individuals; and persons with physical and intellectual differences. Their triumphs have recast the contours of society and paved the way for the ongoing efforts to bring equal opportunity to all. Although not without setbacks, this struggle to expand inclusiveness has become the defining characteristic of democracy in the United States.
Carrie Chapman Catt, 1859–1947
The Struggle for Justice
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George Washington Carver, c. 1864–1943
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James Weldon Johnson
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William Ayers Campbell
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Marian Anderson
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Thurgood Marshall
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Earl Warren 1891–1974
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James Farmer
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Betty Friedan 1921–2006
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Eunice Kennedy Shriver 1921–2009
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The Return to Aztlan Cesar Chavez 1927–1993
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Albert Einstein 1879–1955
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Felipe Luciano
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Martin Luther King Jr. 1929–1968
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Malcolm X
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Kate Millett 1934–2017
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Rosa Parks 1913–2005
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Asa Philip Randolph 1889-1979
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Minoru Yasui
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Gwendolyn E. Brooks
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Marian Anderson 1897–1993
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Eleanor Roosevelt 1884–1962
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Mary McLeod Bethune 1875–1955
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Paul Robeson 1898–1976
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Dustin Lance Black, born 1974
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Congressman John Lewis 1940–2020
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Antonia Pantoja 1922–2002
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John Africa, 1931 - 1985
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Dolores Huerta born 1930
The Struggle for Justice