Activists from Chicago

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.

Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series The X-Files, socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film The House of Mirth (2000), DSU Stella Gibson in the BBC/RTÉ crime drama television series The Fall, sex therapist Jean Milburn in the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of Netflix drama series The Crown. Among other honors, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. She has resided in London since 2002, after earlier years divided between the United Kingdom and the United States.

American feminist social activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, philosopher, and writer (1860–1935)

First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977

Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. was an American civil rights activist, LGBTQ rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel during the civil rights movement, he became one of the most prominent civil rights leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and an ardent advocate and early supporter of LGBTQ rights in the United States. From 1991 to 1997, he served as a shadow United States senator for the District of Columbia.

American journalist and civil rights activist (1862–1931)

controversial leader of Nation of Islam

Ethel Kennedy was an American human rights advocate. She was the widow of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a sister-in-law of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, and a daughter of businessman George Skakel.

American communist anarchist labor organizer (1853–1942)

African-American activist (1948-1969)

American community organizer and writer (1909–1972)

African American schoolteacher

activist, Marxist, author, member of the Black Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family

American lawyer, social reformer, social scientist and civil rights activist (1866-1948)

American political activist and hacker (born 1985)

American social activist (1859–1940)

American philanthropist (1875–1967)

American activist (1941–2011)

American businesswoman known for civil rights activism

American activist (1894-1966)

American activist and author (1946–2025)

American political scientist

1960s Civil Rights Movement strategist (1936–2008)

German anarchist (1836–1887)

digital program officer for the Smithsonian Institution

American literacy advocate (1916–2024)

American activist (1902-1991)

American politician

Jewish American activist (1858–1942)

American comedian and political commentator (born 1965)

American abolitionist, suffragist, and activist (1819–1909)

American labor leader (1882–1942)

black queer feminist activist

American mathematician (1917-1997)

community organizer and human rights activist

HIV-positive activist and promoter of HIV/AIDS denialism

American labor leader (1953-2021)

American activist

American activist and former Black Panther captain

American reformer, homeopathic doctor, school administrator, labor advocate

American anti-war activist

American social reformer

American activist

American socialite and advocate for deaf education

American disability rights activist (1930-2002)

American social activist and college professor (1901–1999)

American labor leader

Social entrepreneur and human rights activist

American journalist

American activist in progressive politics and the women's suffrage movement in California