Malcolm X. Marcus Garvey. Charles Hamilton Houston. Diane Nash. For every well-known figure of the Civil Rights Movement, there are dozens of lesser-known, yet no less significant, activists who helped advance America’s social views and helped shape race relations in this country. Most listeners have only skimmed the surface of these deeply complex, influential, and world-changing figures. Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University delves into their stories, presenting an intimate study of the men and women who led half a century of social change. 

Listeners will hear the histories behind well-known names, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, and gain surprising insight and deep context about the activists’ contributions. Dr. Jeffries also introduces figures whose names may be less familiar, but who also played vital roles in Civil Rights, such as Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Stokely Carmichael. 

Each biography unfolds like a piece of riveting fiction, as Dr. Jeffries recounts the challenges and successes of the individuals - and the tremendous risks they took - while explaining how their choices transformed the way we now think about race and justice. Most importantly, listeners will discover how actions that may have seemed small or even futile at the time gradually rippled into waves of social change that impacted decades to come.