American human rights activists

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, which most commonly affected African Americans.

Angelina Jolie is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award and three Golden Globe Awards. Films in which she has appeared have grossed over $6.9 billion worldwide. She has been named Hollywood's highest-paid actress multiple times.

Pope Leo XIV is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States, the first to hold either U.S. or Peruvian citizenship, the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the second from the Americas.

American diplomat and activist, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1884–1962)

American writer (1892–1973)

Malcolm X was an African American revolutionary and Black nationalist leader who rose from a background of poverty, family disruption, and criminal activity to a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965. He discovered the religious organization the Nation of Islam while in prison and served as its spokesperson from 1952 until 1964. He was also a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the African American community. A controversial figure accused of preaching violence, Malcolm X is also a celebrated figure with Black people and Muslims worldwide for his pursuit of racial justice.

Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor (1928-2016)

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 actor (born 1949)

American actress

American teacher and aid worker

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA for 25 weeks starting in January 2019, the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka has won seven career singles titles, including four majors: two each at the Australian Open and the US Open. She is the first Japanese player to win a major singles title.

Patricia Lee Smith is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album Horses made her an influential member of the New York City–based punk rock movement. Smith has fused rock and poetry in her work. In 1978, her most widely known song, "Because the Night," co-written with Bruce Springsteen, reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number five on the UK Singles Chart.

American sociologist and activist (1868–1963)

Maria de Lourdes Villiers Farrow is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the prime-time television soap opera Peyton Place and gained further recognition for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra. She achieved her career breakthrough and international acclaim as the titular character Rosemary in Roman Polanski's psychological horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968), receiving nominations for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. She went on to appear in several films throughout the 1970s, such as Follow Me! (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), and Death on the Nile (1978). Her younger sister is Prudence Farrow.

American actress (born 1972)

American-Canadian actress

Armenian-American bassist (b. 1974)

Irish-American academic, author and diplomat

Cesario Estrada "Cesar" Chavez was an American labor unionist and political activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). Ideologically, his worldview combined leftism with Catholic social teaching.

Hungarian psychiatrist (1920-2012)

American musician

Cambodian-American physician and actor (1940–1996)

American actress

American singer and activist (born 1958)

American singer, rapper and activist (born 1970)

American football player (born 1987)

American political activist, journalist, and convicted murderer of a police officer

U.S. Representative from California (1981–2008)

American environmental activist (born 2003)

American geneticist

American journalist

Japanese journalist (1859–1933)

Austrian-American sociologist

creator of Pretty Good Privacy

American activist (1927-1998)

American broadcast journalist, author, television personality and female empowerment advocate

American anthropologist, 1959-2022

American aid worker and ISIS captive (1988–2015)

American actor and film editor (1968–2010)

Chinese activist (1937-2016)

Finnish American actress

American media scholar, blogger, and Internet activist

American law professor and writer

American historian and human rights activist

American drummer

author, historian, speaker and Holocaust survivor (1924–2022)

American civil rights activist (1921-2014)

American anthropologist and activist

American author, bioethicist, physician, lawyer and social critic (born 1973)

Author, folklorist, anti-Ku Klux Klan crusader (1916-2011)

Roman Catholic bishop and activist (1930–2024)

American musician (1920–1981)

American investigative writer (born 1958)

American philanthropist, activist and former fashion model

American human rights activist

human rights activist (1925–2000)

former CIA analyst, becone a pro-Russian activist

Founder of the human rights group School of the Americas Watch

American activist