Black Activists Who Led the Civil Rights Movement 領導民權運動的黑人活動家

布拉德·威特文 盧屹譯

These visionary African American activists were some of the most vocal agents for racial change. 這些有遠見卓識的非裔美國活動家高聲疾呼，推動種族間的變革。

Martin Luther King Jr.

Widely recognized as the most prominent figure of the civil rights movement， Martin Luther King Jr. was instrumental in executing nonviolent protests， such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington， where he delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. The following year， the Baptist minister became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize at just 35 years old.

Throughout his life， the civil rights leader was reportedly imprisoned nearly 30 times for acts of civil disobedience， among other unreasonable charges. （Montgomery， Alabama police once jailed King for driving 30 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone.） While behind bars in 1963， King penned his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail， which included the famous quote， “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

On April 4， 1968， Missouri State Penitentiary fugitive James Earl Ray assassinated the 39-year-old King， who was standing on the second-floor balcony of Memphis， Tennessee hotel， Lorraine Motel. Following Kings murder， his wife and fellow activist Coretta Scott King continued their work towards justice by founding Atlantas Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change （also known as the King Center）.

Malcolm X

In stark contrast to Kings championing of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience， Malcolm X famously preached defending oneself “by any means necessary，” thus sparking what many considered to be a radicalized， potentially violent version of the civil rights movement.

While serving a 10-year prison sentence for a larceny conviction， he converted to the Nation of Islam， which promoted Black supremacy and rejected the idea of integration.

Malcolm X eventually left the Nation of Islam in 1964 and later converted to traditional Islam during a pilgrimage to Mecca， Saudi Arabia. Upon returning to the United States， he had shifted ideol-ogies and was more optimistic toward a peaceful resolution to the fight for civil rights. On February 21， 1965， Malcolm X was preparing to give a speech for his Organization of Afro-American Unity at New York Citys Audubon Ballroom when several members of the Nation of Islam shot and killed him.

Rosa Parks

Often referred to as “the mother of the civil rights movement，” Rosa Parks， a seamstress， put a spotlight on racial injustice when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery， Alabama on December 1， 1955. Her arrest and resulting conviction for violating segregation laws launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott， which was led by Dr. King and boasted 17，000 Black participants.

The year-long boycott ended in December 1956 following a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring Montgomerys segregated seating unconstitutional. During that time， Parks lost her job and， in 1957， relocated to Detroit， where she served on Michigan congressman John Conyers， Jr.s staff and remained active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People （NAACP）.

John Lewis

John Lewis， whos served as a Georgia congressman since 1986， learned about nonviolent protest while studying at Nashvilles American Baptist Theological Seminary and went on to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. Eventually earning the title of chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee （SNCC）， the Alabama native was beaten and arrested while participating in the 1961 Freedom Rides.

After speaking at the 1963 March on Washington， he led a march from Selma to Montgomery， Alabama， on March 7， 1965. During what became known as “Bloody Sunday，” state police violently attacked the marchers as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge， and Lewis suffered a fractured skull. The days horrific images led President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin was a close adviser to Dr. King beginning in the mid-1950s who assisted with organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott and played a key role in orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington. Hes also credited with teaching King about Mahatma Gandhis philosophies of peace and tactics of civil disobedience.

After moving to New York in the 1930s， he was involved in many early civil rights protests， including one against North Carolinas segregated public transit system that resulted in his arrest. （Rustin was eventually sentenced to work on a chain gang.）

James Farmer

Aside from heading prominent civil rights era organization， the Congress of Racial Equality （CORE）， James Farmer also organized the 1961 Freedom Rides， which eventually led to interstate travel desegregation. The Howard University graduate was also a follower of Gandhis philosophies and applied their principles to his own acts of nonviolent civil resistance.

While trying to organize protests in Plaquemine， Louisiana， in 1963， state troopers armed with guns， cattle prods and tear gas， hunted him door to door， according to COREs website， which noted that Farmer eventually went to jail on charges of “disturbing the peace.”

Hosea Williams

After nearly being killed for using a white people-only water fountain in Georgia， Hosea Williams joined Savannahs chapter of the NAACP in 1952. Twelve years later， he joined Kings Southern Christian Leadership Conference as an officer， assisting with Black voter registration drives in the Freedom Summer of 1964.

Along with Lewis， he also played a leadership role in the 1965 March to Montgomery that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” That same year， King appointed him president of the SCLCs Summer Community Organization and Political Education.

Williams， who witnessed Kings 1968 assassination， was elected to the Georgia State Assembly in 1974.

Whitney Young Jr.

As the executive director of the National Urban League， beginning in 1961， Whitney Young Jr. was responsible for overseeing the integration of corporate workplaces. Throughout his 10 years in the position， he took up the cause of equal opportunities for Black in industry and government service. At his direction， the National Urban League also co-sponsored the 1963 March on Washington.

On the political front， the World War II veteran acted as an adviser on racial matters to President Lyndon B. Johnson， and his Domestic Marshall Plan is said to have heavily influenced 1960s federal poverty programs. Young received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1968.

Roy Wilkins

Roy Wilkins served as assistant NAACP secretary under Walter Francis White in the early 1930s and succeeded W.E.B. Du Bois as the editor of the organizations official magazine， Crisis， in 1934. During Wilkins tenure， the NAACP played a major role in civil rights victories， including Brown v. Board of Education， the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A subscriber to the philosophy that reform is best achieved via legislation， Wilkins testified before Congress multiple times and also consulted for several U.S. presidents. Among the watershed events he participated in： the 1963 March on Washington， 1965s “Bloody Sunday” Selma to Montgomery march and the March Against Fear in 1966.

馬丁·路德·金

馬丁·路德·金被公認為最杰出的民權運動人物，推動了蒙哥馬利巴士抵制運動、1963年“向華盛頓進軍”等非暴力抗議活動。他在“向華盛頓進軍”運動中發表了著名演講《我有一個夢想》。次年，這位浸禮會牧師成為最年輕的諾貝爾和平獎獲得者，時年僅35歲。

據說這位民權領袖一生中因溫和抵抗行為等無理指控入獄近30次。（亞拉巴馬州蒙哥馬利市警方，曾以金在25英里限速區內以30英里時速行駛為由，將他拘禁。）1963年，金在獄中寫下名作《伯明翰獄中來信》，其中有一句名言：“任何一地的不公都是對各地公正的威脅?！?/p>

1968年4月4日，密蘇里州立監獄的逃犯詹姆斯·厄爾·雷伊暗殺了39歲的金，當時金正站在田納西州孟菲斯市洛雷恩汽車旅館二樓陽臺上。金被害后，他的遺孀、同為民權活動家的科蕾塔·斯科特·金繼續他們爭取正義的事業，在亞特蘭大成立了馬丁·路德·金非暴力社會變革中心（又稱金中心）。

馬爾科姆·X

眾所周知，與金所倡導的非暴力抗議和溫和抵抗截然相反，馬爾科姆·X宣揚“通過一切必要手段”進行自衛，從而引發了多被認為具有潛在暴力的激進民權運動。

因盜竊罪而服刑的10年間，他改信宣揚黑人至上、拒絕融合理念的伊斯蘭民族組織。

1964年，馬爾科姆·X最終脫離伊斯蘭民族組織，后來在前往沙特麥加朝覲期間，皈依了傳統伊斯蘭教。回到美國后，他的思想已發生轉變，對用和平方式爭取民權持更加樂觀的態度。1965年2月21日，正當馬爾科姆·X在紐約市奧杜邦舞廳準備為其美國黑人團結組織做演講時，幾名伊斯蘭民族組織的成員開槍打死了他。

羅莎·帕克斯

裁縫羅莎·帕克斯常被稱為“民權運動之母”，1955年12月1日，她在亞拉巴馬州蒙哥馬利市公交車上拒絕為一名白人男子讓座，使得種族不公成為關注焦點。她因違反種族隔離法被捕，繼而被判有罪，引發了由馬丁·路德·金博士領導、有1.7萬名黑人參加的蒙哥馬利巴士抵制運動。

1956年12月，美國最高法院判定蒙哥馬利市按種族隔離座位的做法違憲后，持續1年之久的抵制運動告終。在此期間，帕克斯丟掉了工作，于1957年搬去底特律，在密歇根州眾議員小約翰·科尼爾斯的手下工作，并繼續活躍在全國有色人種協進會中。

約翰·劉易斯

自1986年任佐治亞州眾議員的約翰·劉易斯，在納什維爾的美國浸禮會神學院學習時了解到了非暴力抗議，繼而在執行種族隔離的午餐餐館里組織了靜坐活動。這位亞拉巴馬人最后當選了全國學生非暴力行動協調委員會主席，在參加1961年自由乘車運動時遭到毆打并被捕。

他在1963年“向華盛頓進軍”運動中發言后，于1965年3月7日領導了從亞拉巴馬州的塞爾馬前往蒙哥馬利的游行。在史稱“血腥星期日”的那天，當游行人群通過埃德蒙·佩特斯橋時，州警對他們進行了暴力鎮壓，致劉易斯顱骨骨折。當天的恐怖景象促使林登·B.約翰遜總統簽署了1965年《選舉權法》。

貝亞德·拉斯廷

從1950年代中期開始，貝亞德·拉斯廷就成為了馬丁·路德·金博士的親密顧問，協助組織了蒙哥馬利巴士抵制運動，并在策劃1963年“向華盛頓進軍”運動中發揮了關鍵作用。也是他向金傳授了圣雄甘地的和平哲學和非暴力反抗策略。

在1930年代搬到紐約后，他參與了許多早期的民權抗議活動，包括反對北卡羅來納州公交系統種族隔離的抗議活動，結果被捕。（拉斯廷最終被判罰與其他囚犯鎖在一起服勞役。）

詹姆斯·法默

除了領導民權時代的著名組織爭取種族平等大會之外，詹姆斯·法默還組織了1961年的自由乘車運動，最終實現了州際乘車種族隔離的終結。這位霍華德大學的畢業生也是甘地哲學的信徒，并將其原則應用于自己的非暴力溫和抵抗行動中。

據爭取種族平等大會網站報道，1963年，當他嘗試在路易斯安那州的普拉克明組織抗議活動時，該州警方帶著槍支、趕牛棒和催淚彈挨家挨戶地搜捕他;該網站稱，法默最終以“擾亂和平”的罪名入獄。

霍齊亞·威廉姆斯

在佐治亞州因使用白人專用噴泉式飲水器差點兒被殺后，霍齊亞·威廉姆斯于1952年加入了全國有色人種協進會薩凡納分會。12年后，他在馬丁·路德·金的南方基督教領袖會議任職，在1964年的自由之夏運動中協助推廣黑人選民登記活動。

他還與劉易斯一起領導了1965年向蒙哥馬利的游行，此游行史稱“血腥星期日”。同年，金任命他為南方基督教領袖會議夏季社區組織和政治教育項目的主席。

目睹1968年馬丁·路德·金遇害的威廉姆斯，于1974年通過選舉進入佐治亞州議會。

小惠特尼·揚

從1961年開始擔任全國都市同盟執行董事的小惠特尼·揚負責監督各公司職場的種族融合工作。在任10年，他致力于在行業和政府服務方面為黑人爭取平等機會。在他的領導下，全國都市同盟還參與發起了1963年“向華盛頓進軍”運動。

在政治領域，這位二戰老兵曾擔任林登·B.約翰遜總統的種族事務顧問，據說他的“國內馬歇爾計劃”對1960年代的聯邦扶貧計劃產生了重大影響。揚于1968年獲得總統自由勛章。

羅伊·威爾金斯

羅伊·威爾金斯于1930年代初，在全國有色人種協進會行政秘書沃爾特·弗朗西斯·懷特手下擔任助理，并于1934年接替W.E.B.杜波依斯擔任該組織官方雜志《危機》的主編。威爾金斯在職期間，全國有色人種協進會在《布朗訴托皮卡教育局案》、1964年《民權法》和1965年《選舉權法》等民權勝利事件中發揮了重要作用。

威爾金斯信奉通過立法可使改革達到最佳效果的理念，多次在國會作證，還為幾位美國總統充當顧問。他參與的里程碑事件包括：1963年的“向華盛頓進軍”運動、1965年的“血腥星期日”塞爾馬至蒙哥馬利游行，以及1966年的克服恐懼游行。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）