HBCU alumni: Politicians and civil rights leaders

Education

HBCU alumni: Politicians and civil rights leaders

Historically black colleges and universities have produced some of this country’s most revered politicians and civil rights leaders.

Andrew Young: Seminary graduate, pastor, civil rights leader, U.N. ambassador, member of the U.S. House, two-term mayor of Atlanta. Young graduated from Howard in 1951 with a biology degree before earning a divinity degree at Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut. (Pouya Dianat / AJC file)

Martin Luther King Jr.: The Atlanta native and Morehouse College graduate was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, embracing a non-violent philosophy that led to the removal of segregation policies nationwide. His âI Have A Dreamâ speech at the 1963 March on Washington is considered one of the most important addresses in American history. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and was a critic of the Vietnam War. King was assassinated in 1968. His birthday is now a federal holiday. (AP Photo)

Jesse Jackson Sr.: An outspoken civil rights activist for six decades, the North Carolina A&T graduate was the first African-American to make a serious run for the presidency, with his campaigns in 1984 and 1988. He founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, an organization committed to improving civil rights through improving economic and educational opportunities for minority groups. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

Whitney Young: As head of the National Urban League, this Kentucky State University graduate helped oversee the racial integration of corporate workplaces. He made the organization a co-sponsor of the 1963 March on Washington. He was an author and newspaper columnist. Young died in 1971. (Yoichi Okam / LBJ Library)

Barbara Jordan: First African-American elected to Texas Senate since reconstruction (1966), first black woman ever elected to Congress (1972; the same year as Andrew Young). Her extraordinary opening remarks at the House Judiciary Committeeâs impeachment hearings for Richard Nixon earned her national acclaim. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

John Lewis: The Atlanta congressman began his civil rights activism as a student at Fisk University participating in Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. At 23, Lewis was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington. He helped four million people register to vote as the director of the Voter Education Project. He was first elected to U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 and is one of the most influential progressive voices in Congress, a vocal critic of Trump administration policies.

William Barber II, a graduate of N.C. Central University, is the leader of the Moral Monday movement that advocates for social justice. In 2016, Barber delivered the keyote speech during the 48th Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, a graduate of Cheyney University, was a close advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the most inï¬uential and effective organizers of the civil rights movement, organized and led a number of protests in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, including the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. His long commitment to nonviolence began in his childhood as W. E. B. Du Bois and Mary McLeod Bethune visited his home to meet with his grandmother who led a local NAACP group. Rustin was instrumental in the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award in the United States. (Library of Congress)

Louis Farrakhan, Sr.: A graduate of Winston-Salem State University, Farrakhan is the leader of the religious group the Nation of Islam. He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad. In 1996, he spearheaded the Million Man March.(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

W.E.B. DuBois: The seminal black intellectual and activist of the early 20th century, DuBois earned a B.A. at Fisk University in Nashville in 1888 and later earned a Ph.d. at Harvard University (his dissertation was on the African slave trade). He lived in Atlanta for more than 20 years and was best known for his 1903 book âThe Souls of Black Folk.â (C M Battey/Getty Images)

Hosea Williams: âUnbossed and unbought,â his favorite phrase, Williams was a heralded civil rights activist for decades before seeking to make change as a state senator, Atlanta City Council member and DeKalb County commissioner. Known for his blue denim overalls, Williams led marches and sit-ins that helped desegregate several places in Georgia. Williams, who earned degrees from Morris Brown College and whatâs now Clark Atlanta University, died in 2000. He founded Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless, an organization that is run today by his daughter, Elisabeth Omalimi. (AJC file)

Diane Nash: A Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee co-founder, Nash helped lead the effort that desegregated lunch counters in Nashville, the first major Southern city to do so. Nash, who began her college studies at Howard University before transferring to Fisk, was a leader of the Freedom Rides movement during the early 1960s that challenged at interstate bus terminals across the South. Today, she gives lectures about her activism. (Henry Burroughs / AP file)

The Greensboro Four: The four North Carolina A&T State University students (left to right: David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and Joseph McNeil) earned the nickname for a 5Â½ month campaign in 1960 to integrate lunch counters at businesses in Greensboro. The students calmly endured bomb threats and other forms of violence and intimidation during the successful effort. (AP file)

Fred Gray: The Alabama State University graduate defended Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin, who were both charged with disorderly conduct for refusing to give up their seats on a bus to white passengers. He successfully litigated a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of hundreds of black men experimented on as part of the infamous Tuskegee Experiment. (Jay Reeves / AP)

Ida B. Wells: Born into slavery, Wells led an anti-lynching campaign in the late 19th century. Her activism began after being forcibly removed from a train car she was told was for whites only, although she bought a first-class ticket. Wells, who studied at Fisk University, became a newspaper writer and publisher, penning articles demanding school desegregation and against lynchings. (Library of Congress)

Thurgood Marshall, a graduate of Howard University, was the first black Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Before becoming a judge, Marshall was best known for arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education, a decision that desegregated public schools. (Library of Congress)

Maynard Jackson: The first African-American mayor of Atlanta. Jackson served a total of three terms, beginning in 1973, and set the course of city politics for the next 40 years. The son of a minister and a French professor at Spelman, he is credited with building Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, which later added his name to its title. He was admitted early to Morehouse College and graduated in 1956 at age 18. (CHARLOTTE B. TEAGLE / AJC file)

Shirley Franklin: Two-term mayor of Atlanta who dubbed herself the âSewer Mayorâ for her relentless (and successful) multibillion-dollar campaign to rebuild Atlantaâs sewers. Graduated from Howard University in 1968 with a sociology degree. (HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM)

Kasim Reed: The two-term mayor of Atlanta graduated with a political science degree from Howard University in 1991 and went on to earn his law degree at Howard. He won seats in the Georgia House and then the Senate and then served as campaign manager for Shirley Franklin, whom he succeeded as mayor in 2009. (JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM)

Keisha Lance Bottoms: Atlantaâs mayor-elect began her public career as a Fulton County State Court Judge. The Florida A&M University graduate is a two-term Atlanta City Council member who has also worked as executive director of the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority. (BRANDEN CAMP / SPECIAL)

Michael Thurmond graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in philosophy and religion from Paine College and later earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He also completed the Political Executives program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1998, he was elected Georgia Labor Commissioner, becoming the first non-incumbent African American to be elected to statewide office in Georgia. He is currently the CEO of DeKalb, after also serving as the superintendent of the county's school district. (HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM)

Stacey Abrams: The Gulfport, Miss., native is the first African-American and woman to be Georgia House of Representatives minority leader. Abrams, a Spelman College graduate, worked across party lines with Republicans to keep the HOPE Scholarship afloat. Abrams is running as a Democrat for governor. (KENT D. JOHNSON / AJC file)

David Dinkins: A graduate of Howard University, Dinkins served as the 106th Mayor of New York City, from 1990 to 1993. He was the first and, to date, only African-American to hold that office. (Andy Kropa/Getty Images)

L. Douglas Wilder: A graduate of Howard University, Wilder is an attorney and politician, who served as the first African-American to be elected as governor of Virginia and first African-American governor of any state since Reconstruction. He is also the former mayor of Richmond, Va.

Kamala Harris: She is the second African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, where she currently represents California. Harris, who received her undergraduate degree from Howard University, is a former district attorney who started a program that gives first-time drug offenders the chance to earn a high school diploma and find employment. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback: A graduate of Dillard University, Pinchback was the first African American to ever become a governor in the United States, serving Louisiana briefly from Dec. 9, 1872 until Jan. 13, 1873, while the former governor was being impeached. He was later elected to the U.S. Senate but his seat was refused because of racial tensions. In 1887, at the age of 50, he decided to try law and enrolled into the Straight College Law School, graduating in 1889. (Library of Congress)

Marilyn Mosby: A magna cum laude graduate of Tuskegee University, Mosby is the current Stateâs Attorney for city of Baltimore. She gained national attention in 2015 when she filed charges against six city police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, an African-American man who died from spinal injuries sustained in custody. Three of the officers were acquitted and charges were dropped against the three other officers. (Alex Brandon / AP file)

1/27

Andrew Young: Seminary graduate, pastor, civil rights leader, U.N. ambassador, member of the U.S. House, two-term mayor of Atlanta. Young graduated from Howard in 1951 with a biology degree before earning a divinity degree at Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut. (Pouya Dianat / AJC file)

Today's Gallery Headlines

Sugar Bowl Game

PHOTOS: Georgia upset by Ole Miss in Sugar Bowl

Sugar Bowl Game

PHOTOS: Georgia prepares for Sugar Bowl

NYE revelers ring in 2026 watching Digital Drone Peach in the Sky

PHOTOS: Atlanta welcomes 2026 with fireworks, drone show

Photos of AJC’s final run

PHOTOS: The final print run of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

More Galleries

Red carpet for students.

PHOTOS: Metro Atlanta students start school

First day of school standalone photo assignment

PHOTOS: School starts for Decatur students

Back to School Presser

PHOTOS: New Fulton school prepares for school year

Berry College sunset

PHOTOS: Georgia campuses among Travel & Leisure's most beautiful