International Civil Rights Walk of Fame

The International Civil Rights Walk of Fame is a historic promenade that honors some of the activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement and other national and global civil rights activists. It was created in 2004, and is located at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta. The site is more than just a promenade; it is an outdoor exhibit that showcases, in granite and bronze, the footstep impressions of those honored.^[1]

According to the National Park Service, which runs the historic site, the Walk of Fame was created "to give recognition to those courageous soldiers of justice who sacrificed and struggled to make equality a reality for all." The Walk of Fame has enriched historic value and cultural heritage to the area it is located, priming it into a tourist attraction.^[1]

The Walk of Fame is a product of Xernona Clayton, an American civil rights activist and executive broadcaster.^[2] In the National Historic Site location the Walk of Fame gets around 800,000 visitors a year.^[3]

Beginning in 2012, inductions will be held every two years.^[4]

In 2019 it was announced that the Walk of Fame would be partially relocating to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta.^[3]

List of inductees

2004

Ralph David Abernathy, Sr., civil rights leader who had a close and enduring partnership with Dr. King
Juanita J. Abernathy, civil rights activist
Ivan Allen, Jr., former mayor of Atlanta during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s
Julian Bond, civil rights leader
Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States
Medgar Evers, civil rights activist
Dorothy Height, educator, social activist
Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., minister, civil rights activist
Judge Frank M. Johnson, United States Federal judge
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States
John Lewis, politician, civil rights leader
Joseph E. Lowery, minister, civil rights leader
Evelyn G. Lowery, civil rights leader
Thurgood Marshall, former US Supreme Court Justice (1969–1991)
Rosa Parks, civil rights activist
Hosea Williams, civil rights leader
Andrew Young, civil rights activist, former mayor of Atlanta

2005

Henry Aaron, baseball player, social activist
Harry Belafonte, musician, actor, social activist
John Conyers, Jr., politician, social activist
Dick Gregory, comedian, social activist
Maynard H. Jackson, former mayor of Atlanta
Ralph E. McGill, journalist, social activist
Fred L. Shuttlesworth, social activist
Ted Turner, media mogul and philanthropist
Judge Elbert P. Tuttle, former chief judge of the US Court of Appeals (1960–1967)
Nancy Wilson, singer, social activist
Reverend Addie L. Wyatt, Labor leader, civil rights pioneer, pastor

2006

Reverend Joseph E. Boone, social activist
Reverend William Holmes Borders, Sr.
Xernona Clayton, civil rights leader, broadcasting executive
Lena Horne, singer, actress, social activist
John E. Jacob, former president and CEO of the National Urban League
Reverend James Orange, pastor, civil rights activist
Bernard Parks, politician, social activist
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African cleric, social activist
William Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
Stevie Wonder, singer, civil rights activist

2007

Lerone Bennett, Jr., scholar, author, historian, social activist
Tony Bennett, singer, social activist
Marian Wright Edelman, social activist for the rights of children
Shirley Franklin, 58th mayor of Atlanta
Frankie Muse Freeman, civil rights attorney
Joe Louis, boxer, social activist
Sir Lynden Pindling, former Premier of the Colony of the Bahama Island (1967–1973)
Sidney Poitier, actor, social activist
Dr. Otis W. Smith, physician
Maxine Waters, politician, social activist
L. Douglas Wilder, former governor of Virginia
Jean Childs Young, civil rights activist and educator

2008

Dr. Maya Angelou, poet, memoirist, actress
Senator Edward W. Brooke, social activist, politician
Tyrone L. Brooks, Sr., social activist, politician
Sammy Davis Jr., singer, dancer
Jesse Hill, business executive
Dr. Benjamin Hooks, established Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change
Clarence B. Jones, Martin Luther King's attorney
Tom Joyner, radio host
The Right Honorable Prime Minister Michael Manley, former Prime Minister of Jamaica
Herman J. Russell, founder and CEO of H. J. Russell and Company
Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, executive director of the SCLC 1960-1964

2009

Rev. Dr. C. M. Alexander
Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., entrepreneur
Dr. Erieka Bennett
Roberto Goizueta, CEO of Coca-Cola
Cathy Hughes, entrepreneur, radio and television personality, and business executive
Earvin "Magic" Johnson, basketball great and businessman
The Links, Incorporated, nonprofit organization of professional African-American women
Sam Massell, businessman and mayor of Atlanta
Ernest N. Morial, mayor of New Orleans
Father Michael L. Pfleger, Roman Catholic priest and social activist
Rev. Al Sharpton, social justice agitator and media figure
Congressman William L. Clay, Sr., long-serving member of US House of Representatives from Missouri
Rev. C. T. Vivian, minister and Martin Luther King associate

2010

Congressman James E. Clyburn
Judge Damon J. Keith
Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles
National Newspaper Publishers Association
Eugene C. Patterson
Albert Sampson
Rita Jackson Samuels
Congresswoman Diane E. Watson

2011

Arthur Blank
James Brown
Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley
Bishop Neil C. Ellis
Leon Hall
Bishop Barbara King
Marc H. Morial
Mayor Carl Stokes
Congressman Louis Stokes
Henry "Hank" Thomas

2012

Rev. Willie Bolden
J.T. Johnson and the Civil Rights Foot Soldiers
Rev. Dr. E. T. Caviness
Dosan Ahn Chang-ho
Constance W. Curry
Fred D. Gray
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh
Charles J. Ogletree
Dr. Walter F. Young

2014

Bishop John Hurst Adams
Governor Roy Barnes
John Carlos
Tommie Smith
Perry Gladstone Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas
Dr. Norman C. Frances
Harry E. Johnson
Representative Calvin Smyre
Thomas N. Todd
Rev. Jasper W. Williams, Jr.

2016

Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights activist from the Selma movement
Rev. Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor, philanthropist, author, motivational speaker
Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III, pastor, community activist
Rev. Dr. Jim Holley, Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church pastor, "ministry of liberation"
Gordon L. Joyner, influential Atlanta lawyer
Rev. Dr. Raphael Gamaliel Warnock, pastor, defender of civil and human rights

2018

Jan Prisby Bryson, business executive
Thomas W. Dortch Jr., national chair of 100 Black Men of America
Monica Kaufman Pearson, broadcast journalist
Sir Franklyn R. Wilson, Bahamian businessman

References

^ ^a ^b "The International Civil Rights Walk of Fame". NPS.gov.
^ "Xernona Clayton". NPS.gov.
^ ^a ^b Poole, Shelia M. (May 10, 2019). "International Civil Rights Walk of Fame will have new home". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
^ "International Civil Rights Walk of Fame Announces 2014 Inductees". The Birmingham Times. December 19, 2013.

External links

International Civil Rights Walk of Fame

Civil rights movement (1954–1968)

Events
(timeline)

Prior to 1954	Journey of Reconciliation Executive Order 9981 Murders of Harry and Harriette Moore Sweatt v. Painter (1950) McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) Baton Rouge bus boycott
1954–1959	Brown v. Board of Education Bolling v. Sharpe Briggs v. Elliott Davis v. Prince Edward County Gebhart v. Belton Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company Emmett Till Montgomery bus boycott Browder v. Gayle Tallahassee bus boycott Mansfield school desegregation 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom "Give Us the Ballot" Royal Ice Cream sit-in Little Rock Nine Cooper v. Aaron Civil Rights Act of 1957 Ministers' Manifesto Katz Drug Store sit-in Kissing Case Biloxi wade-ins
1960–1963	New Year's Day March Sit-in movement Greensboro sit-ins Nashville sit-ins Atlanta sit-ins Savannah Protest Movement Greenville Eight Civil Rights Act of 1960 Ax Handle Saturday Gomillion v. Lightfoot Boynton v. Virginia University of Georgia desegregation riot Rock Hill sit-ins Robert F. Kennedy's Law Day Address Freedom Rides Anniston bombing Birmingham attack Garner v. Louisiana Albany Movement Cambridge movement University of Chicago sit-ins "Second Emancipation Proclamation" Meredith enrollment, Ole Miss riot Atlanta's Berlin Wall "Segregation now, segregation forever" Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 1963 Birmingham campaign Letter from Birmingham Jail Children's Crusade Birmingham riot 16th Street Baptist Church bombing John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights Detroit Walk to Freedom March on Washington "I Have a Dream" Big Six St. Augustine movement
1964–1968	Twenty-fourth Amendment Chester school protests Bloody Tuesday 1964 Monson Motor Lodge protests Freedom Summer workers' murders Civil Rights Act of 1964 Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States Katzenbach v. McClung 1964–1965 Scripto strike 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches "How Long, Not Long" Voting Rights Act of 1965 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections March Against Fear White House Conference on Civil Rights Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement Loving v. Virginia Memphis sanitation strike King assassination funeral riots Civil Rights Act of 1968 Poor People's Campaign Green v. County School Board of New Kent County Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.