“ In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now. ”
Their StoryKenyan environmentalist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, which has since organised the planting of tens of millions of trees across Kenya, led largely by women. She died in 2011.Her memoir 'Unbowed' and her Nobel lecture are the fullest primary sources.See Their Full Story
Their StoryLatina transgender activist present at the 1969 Stonewall uprising, who co-founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with Marsha P. Johnson to house homeless queer and trans youth in New York. She died in 2002.Her 2001 speech, widely archived online, is a direct primary source.See Their Full Story
Their StoryKenyan environmentalist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, which has since organised the planting of tens of millions of trees across Kenya, led largely by women. She died in 2011.Her memoir 'Unbowed' and her Nobel lecture are the fullest primary sources.See Their Full Story
“ We're all in the same boat as long as we're being oppressed one way or the other, whether we are gay, straight, trans, black, yellow, green, purple, or whatever. ”
Their StoryLatina transgender activist present at the 1969 Stonewall uprising, who co-founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with Marsha P. Johnson to house homeless queer and trans youth in New York. She died in 2002.Her 2001 speech, widely archived online, is a direct primary source.See Their Full Story
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
ContextDavis on refusing to treat injustice as permanent, a recurring theme in her lectures.Read More: Black Activism
Their StoryScholar and activist whose work on race, gender and the prison system has shaped decades of organising. Briefly jailed and tried in the early 1970s after guns registered in her name were used in a courtroom takeover, she was acquitted and went on to a long academic and activist career arguing for the abolition of prisons and policing.Her memoir and lectures, widely available online, are the fullest primary sources.See Their Full Story
Their StoryJapanese-American activist interned with her family during the Second World War, who went on to organise alongside Malcolm X and across the Black, Asian-American and Puerto Rican independence movements for the rest of her life. She died in 2014.Interviews and archival footage from her later life are the clearest primary sources.See Their Full Story
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
ContextRivera crediting drag queens and trans women at the front lines of Stonewall.Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
Their StoryLatina transgender activist present at the 1969 Stonewall uprising, who co-founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with Marsha P. Johnson to house homeless queer and trans youth in New York. She died in 2002.Her 2001 speech, widely archived online, is a direct primary source.See Their Full Story
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
ContextYousafzai on the power of a single voice, from her campaign for girls' education.
Their StoryPakistani education activist who campaigned for girls' schooling under Taliban rule, survived being shot in 2012, and became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.Her UN address and 'I Am Malala' are well-documented primary sources.See Their Full Story
“ Your sexuality and your gender identity are one part of who you are. But it's so important that you focus on who you are and what you want for yourself. ”
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
ContextHeumann's rallying line from the documentary on the disability rights movement she helped lead.Read More: Disability Rights
Their StoryA leader of the international disability rights movement, sometimes called its mother. Denied a school place as a child for being a fire hazard, she went on to help drive the 1977 Section 504 sit-in and the shaping of landmark accessibility law.Her memoir 'Being Heumann' is the primary source for her own framing.See Their Full Story
