The Giants of the Movement We Lost in 2024

The civil rights community lost some of its most towering and consequential figures in 2024. We will never forget them — and we will never stop working to honor their legacies and carry their work forward.

In 2024, our coalition was deeply saddened by the loss of Dr. Deborah Ann Turner, women’s rights and voting rights advocate and leader of the League of Women Voters, and civil rights and labor leader William Lucy, the secretary-treasurer emeritus of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

And we remember former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away on December 29 at 100. President Carter served the United States with distinction and powerfully demonstrated his commitment to civil and human rights throughout his life. We will also never forget Rep. Donald Payne, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, and Rep. Bill Pascrell, who all dedicated their lives to public service and who were all committed to advancing civil and human rights during their time in Congress. Their service to our nation — and the service of so many other leaders, advocates, and activists who we lost this year — lives on.

We will also remember:

Dexter King

January 30, 1961 — January 22, 1964

• One of four children of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., longtime chairman of the King Center. Read more.

Joe Madison

June 16, 1949 — January 31, 2014

• Civil rights activist, Radio Hall of Fame inductee. Read more.

David Johnson

August 3, 1926 — March 1, 2024

• Civil rights activist, San Francisco photographer. Read more.

Naomi Barber King

November 17, 1931 — March 7, 2024

• Civil rights activist who was married to the younger brother of Rev. Martin Luther King, established the A.D. King Foundation in May 2008 with a mission of empowering youth and women and advancing strategies for nonviolent social change. Read more.

Dorie Ladner

June 28, 1942 — March 11, 2024

• Civil rights activist, member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, organizer during Freedom Summer. Read more.

Dr. Helena Hicks

June 28, 1934 — April 18, 2024

• Baltimore civil rights activist who helped to desegregate Read Drug Stores. Read more.

Christopher Edley, Jr.

January 13, 1953 — May 10, 2024

• Former commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, co-founder of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, dean of University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Read more.

Rev. William Lawson

June 28, 1928 — May 14, 2024

• Civil and human rights leader, founder of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, leader of the Houston chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for more than three decades. Read more.

Myrna Carter Jackson

July 9, 1941 — May 31, 2014

• Birmingham civil rights activist, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute board member. Read more.

Rev. James Lawson

September 22, 1929 — June 9, 2024

• Civil rights leader, minister, Nashville student activist, Freedom Rider, Vanderbilt distinguished professor. Read more.

Rev. Fred Taylor

October 23, 1942 — June 21, 2024

• Atlanta civil rights activist who worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for almost 40 years. Read more.

Tessie Prevost

September 26, 1954 — July 6, 2024

• Civil rights activist, integrated her New Orleans elementary school the same day that Ruby Bridges integrated hers. Read more.

Bernice Johnson Reagon

October 4, 1942 — July 16, 2024

• Civil rights activist, founder of The Freedom Singers and Sweet Honey in the Rock. Read more.

Lilly Ledbetter

April 14, 1938 — October 12, 2024

• Women’s equality leader who inspired the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Read more.

Thelma Mothershed Wair

November 29, 1940 — October 19, 2024

• Civil rights activist, member of the Little Rock Nine who desegregated Little Rock Central High School, Congressional Gold Medal recipient. Read more.

Quincy Jones

March 14, 1933 — November 3, 2024

• Music icon, member of NAACP Legal Defense Fund board of directors for more than three decades, humanitarian. Read more.

Ethel Mae Brown Marshall

October 21, 1943 — November 6, 2024

• Civil rights and educational equity advocate, signed an early petition that contributed to the Briggs v. Elliott case, which later became part of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Read more.

Dr. Margaree Seawright Crosby

November 21, 1941 — November 8, 2014

• Civil rights activist, member of the Greenville Eight who protested segregation in Greenville’s library system, first Black woman to become a tenured professor at Clemson University. Read more.

James L. Solomon, Jr.

August 24, 1930 — November 29, 2024

• Civil rights activist, one of three Black students to desegregate University of South Carolina. Read more.

Nikki Giovanni

June 7, 1943 — December 9, 2024

• Civil rights activist, renowned poet. Read more.

We will never, ever forget them and all of the incredible civil rights advocates and activists we lost in 2024. We fight on to honor their lives.