World War I US Army veteran Eric Carlson joined the 1932 Bonus March to seek early payment of pension money promised veterans by the government. He was shot during a confrontation between marchers and DC police, who were trying to evict the marchers…

William Hushka, an immigrant from Lithuania, was a World War I US Army veteran who joined the 1932 Bonus Marchers in their campaign to secure early payment of veterans' pensions from the government. Along with fellow veteran and marcher Eric Carlson,…

As First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt championed equal opportunity for all races and for women, often communicating the opinions of civil rights leaders to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration. Roosevelt resigned from Daughters of…

Mary and Emily Edmonson were among the 77 enslaved African Americans who boarded the schooner, Pearl, in 1848 intending to sail down the Potomac, then north to freedom. Captured when the Pearl becalmed, the Edmonson sisters were jailed. They awaited…

Cleve Jones is a human rights activist who created the idea of a memorial quilt commemorating people who have died of AIDS. The first time the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was displayed was October 11, 1987, when it was laid out in full on the…

James Farmer was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. As one of the founders of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), an interracial civil rights organization, and its National Director in the early 1960s, Farmer…

Roy Wilkins was a prominent civil rights activist who held leadership positions within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1931 until 1977. In 1941, he helped coordinate staff and financial support from the NAACP for…

Jeanette Rankin was the first woman member of Congress. Rankin served two nonconsecutive terms in 1916 and again in 1940, giving her the unique ability to vote against US entry into war for both World War I and World War II. Rankin continued her…

Rustin was a crucial force driving civil rights activism, especially in organizing protests on the National Mall. The first March on Washington movement emerged in 1941 when African American activists, including Rustin, successfully pressured…

From 1961 to 1971, Whitney Young was the Executive Director of the National Urban League (NUL), a civil rights organization which emphasizes economic parity and self-reliance. In March 1963, A. Philip Randolph asked Young and the NUL to participate…