Saul Alinsky

1. Saul Alinsky I am an American community organizer and writer. I am generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing—primarily organizing the poor for social action. My book, Rules For Radicals (1971) is my impassioned advice to young radicals on how to effect constructive, non-violent, social change. The Rules became a primer for hell raisers.

2. Susan B. Anthony • After teaching for fifteen years, I became active in the temperance movement and also worked to free slaves. Because I was a woman, I was not allowed to speak at rallies. I founded the American Equal Rights Association in 1866. I am best known for my arrest for attempting to vote on November 5, 1872. I was a founding member of the National Woman Suffrage Association and president (1892-1900).

3. Clara Barton I began teaching school at a time when most teachers were men. As a pioneer and humanitarian, I risked my life when I was nearly 40 years old to bring supplies and support to soldiers in the field during the Civil War. At age 60, I founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and led it for the next 23 years. By the force of my personal example, I opened paths to the new field of volunteer service.

4. Sophonisba Breckinridge • I was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1895,but my law practice was never successful due to gender discrimination.I earnedmy Ph.D. and my J.D. degree from the University of Chicago, (the first woman to do so). In 1909, I helped found the NAACP. In 1934, I was elected president of the American Association of Schools of Social Work andwas involved in many progressive reform efforts, including woman suffrage, African American civil rights, labor reform, and pacifism. Teacher

5. Harry Bridges Fifteen years after I set foot in San Francisco in 1920, I was at the forefront of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which was the first U. S. union to actively fight against racism. I led the longshoreman’s San Francisco General Strike (1934), notable for “Bloody Thursday” and as the first industry-wide strike in U.S. history.

6. Linda Chavez-Thompson I rose from the organizing ranks of my union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), to become the first person of color elected to an executive office of the AFL-CIO. I am currently the highest-ranking woman in the labor movement.

7. César Chavez I was the son of farm workers and saw abuse first hand. My union led boycotts of grapes and lettuce in an effort to force growers to negotiate with the union. I also fought against the use of so many pesticides in the fields, something that was bad for workers and for consumers.

8. Eugene Debs At 16, I became a locomotive fireman, stoking fires on the early prairie railroads. As a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, I organized and became the first president of the American Railway Union. I served 6 months in jail for defying a court order during the famous Pullman strike. I ran for U.S. President 5 times as a Socialist Democratic Party candidate, including once from my jail cell.

9. Frederick douglass • I was born a slave. When I was about 16 years old, I was rented out to an overseer in Maryland by my "master.“ He beat me, but when he tried to do it again, I beat him and he never tried again. Later, I escaped slavery, wrote a book on my life as a slave, and became a well-known organizer against slavery. During the Civil War, I helped convince President Lincoln to allow Blacks to join the military and fight to preserve the Union. Some people believe that I was the most significant Black American in the 19th century.

10. W.E.B. DU BOIS I am among the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). From 1910 to 1934 I served it as director of publicity and research, a member of the board of directors, and editor of the Crisis, its monthly magazine.

11. William Lloyd Garrison I was the most prominent crusader to abolish slavery in the U.S. and founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. My newspaper, The Liberator, became a passionate voice against unjust power of all kinds. After the Civil War I insisted on black and women’s equality.

12. Samuel Gompers • I played a bigger role in shaping the U.S. labor movement than any other. Born in London, I came to America with my family in 1863 and went to work as a cigar maker. Considered by all a man of integrity and intelligence, I went on to help form the American Federation of Labor (AFofL) in 1887, and served as its head until 1924.

13. Margaret Haley • I was the first woman and teacher to speak from the floor at a National Education Association meetingwhen I delivered my influential "Why Teachers Should Organize" speech in 1904. In this speech, I introduced issues that continue to be debated by teachersand the public today. I saw the struggle for teachers' rights as intrinsically linked to other social struggles.I co-founded the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 1919. Along with my cohorts, we were so successful in the Chicago schools that we acquired the nickname "Lady Labor Sluggers."

14. Joe Hill I was a songwriter, itinerant laborer, union organizer and martyr. I was killed by a firing squad in 1936 as a result of a controversial trial. My body was sent to Chicago where it was cremated and my ashes were purportedly sent to every Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) local. My most famous song was “The Rebel Girl,” about Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

15. Sidney Hillman I founded the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. I am often credited with inventing trade unionism as we know it today.

16. Mother Jones I am one of the most colorful figures in American labor history. Frequently showing up at strikes and rallies, I was known for inciting passion as well as action. While I am most often recognized for my comment, “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living,” many considered my speeches profound and prophetic.

17. Helen keller I am among the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and participated in numerous rallies and marches.In 1933 the Nazis burned a collection of my political essays.

18. Martin Luther King, JR. I founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 and won a top honor from the NAACP. In 1963 I helped direct the March on Washington; it was there that I delivered the "I have a dream" speech. In 1963, I was named Time’s Man of the Year; in 1964 I won the Nobel Peace Prize (the youngest person to receive this prestigious award); and in 1966 I won the Margaret Sanger Award for "courageous resistance to bigotry and … lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity." In 1977 I was awarded posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1968, I was assassinated in Memphis, where I had helped lead protests with striking garbage workers of that city.

19. John L. Lewis • I served as president of the United Mine Workers Union for more than forty years. I was one of the founders of the CIO. Under me, mine workers fought some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles with management.

20. Lucy Randolph Mason A Virginia native, I supported myself by working as a stenographer in Richmond, VA. As a young woman, I devoted much of my free time to volunteer social service work and political activities on behalf of women's suffrage. I lobbied for Fair Labor Standards and became known as a social reformer dedicated to the Southern workers’ rights and racial justice. I traveled for the CIO for 16 years prior to my death in 1959.

21. Peter McGuire I am known as the “father” of Labor Day and of May Day. Ichampioned the need for a national federation and founded the UnitedBrotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.

22. George Meany First President of the merged AFL-CIO.Under his leadership, the labor movement won unprecedented gains for ordinary working Americans, especially under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. A staunch supporter of civil and equal rights his entire career, he put the federation's muscle behind the civil rights movement, insisting that the historic 1964 Civil Rights Act call for an end to both workplace and community discrimination.

23. Frances Perkins Served as Secretary of Labor and held the distinction of being the first women to serve in a presidential cabinet position. She was largely responsible for the U.S. adoption of Social Security, unemployment insurance, federal laws regulating child labor, and adoption of the federal minimum wage.

24. EstherPeterson • A tribute to me in the National Women’s Hall of Fame calls me “a powerful and effective catalyst for change.” Among my many achievements, in the 1960s I was considered by many to be the driving force behind the equal-pay movement. While teaching, I volunteered time at the YMCA; it was there that I met unionized garment workers. I was inspired by their unfair treatment and as a result, went to work for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

25. A. Philip Randolph I was a Civil rights leader and the founder of both the March on Washington Movement (1933-1947) and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.I first organized a union of elevator operators in New York City. In 1919, I became president of the National Brotherhood of Workers of America, which organized theAfrican-American shipyard and dock workers in Tidewater Virginia. In 1925, I organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and was elected president. In 1934, porters were granted rights under federal law.

26. Walter Reuther In 1937, I made the cover of Time, and was referred to as the Working Man’s Hero.I was the long-time president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW).

27. EleAnor Roosevelt During the 1920s, I taught American history and literature in New York City. I also began working for the Women's Trade Union League, and I raised funds and supported the goals of the union.  Some of the goals included a minimum wage, a 48 hour work week, and the abolition of child labor.

28. Harriet Tubman I was born a slave, but escaped. I'm most well-known for being a "conductor" on what was called the Underground Railroad, a secret system of getting escaped slaves to freedom. I freed over 300 souls, and never lost a "passenger.” I also worked along side Susan B. Anthony as a suffragist.

29. Mabel Vernon • I devoted my life. to working boldly for two issues: women’s rights and peace.As Secretary and Organizer of the National Woman’s Suffrage Movement I am known for heckling President Woodrow Wilson and picketing the White House. After women won the right to vote, I became involved with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

30. Booker T. Washington As President of the National Negro Business League, I encouraged blacks in my publicationsto start their own business enterprises and to frequent each others' establishments. With his leadership 320 branches were formed by 1907. Teacher and activist

31. George Washington I put together a little group called the "Continental Army" to fight the British. Originally the Continental Army was a volunteer organization known as the "Minutemen." I defeated the world's most powerful military by October of 1781 in Yorktown.

32. Jeannette Rankin I was the first female to serve in Congress and was the only person to vote against our involvement in WW I and WW II. I worked for women’s rights and against war into my 80’s, and worked for peace in Vietnam. February 1917, just before becoming the first woman to serve in Congress

33. MALCOLM X I was born Malcolm Little and spent time in prison, from 1946 to 1952, where I converted to Islam and also became political. People say that I was one of the most articulate spokespeople for Black rights in the United States. I believed that Black people needed to work for our rights "by any means necessary." And in 1964, I organized the Organization for Afro-American Unity, and began to preach not for racial separation but for "overthrowing the system of exploitation."

34. Rosa Parks In 1955, I was sitting on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in the Black section. When the white section filled up, they ordered me to move. I refused, was arrested, and it led to a bus boycott that lasted 381 days. The boycott was the first time that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became involved in organizing for justice. After we won, I couldn't get a job, and had to move to Detroit. Some people call me the mother of the Civil Rights Movement.

35. Harvey MILK I suppose that I was the first openly gay elected official in the United States. I was part of the gay rights movement in San Francisco in the 1970s and was elected to the city's Board of Supervisors. But I wasn't an one-issue candidate. I was for workers' rights and supported civil rights for people of color; and I supported the women's movement. I was white, but I was elected by a true rainbow coalition. Some people called me the "Mayor of Castro," referring to the mostly gay neighborhood in San Francisco. While in office, I was assassinated with Mayor George Moscone by a conservative city Supervisor, Dan White. If you want to know more about my life, watch the powerful film, The Times of Harvey Milk.