Voices of today's civil rights movement
CBS News asked noted figures in the arts, business and politics about their experience in today's civil rights movement, or about figures who inspired them in their activism.
Click on the links below to read or watch their testimonials, and come back to this page as more testimonials are added.
- Pablo Alvarado, executive director, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
- Medea Benjamin, activist, co-founder of Code Pink and Global Exchange
- Dr. Marci Bowers, pioneer in transgender surgery
- Jennifer Finney Boylan, author, national co-chair of GLAAD
- Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Herman Cain, businessman, former Republican presidential candidate
- Majora Carter, founder, Sustainable South Bronx; environmental justice advocate, public radio host
- Pearl Cleage, author-playwright
- Judy Collins, singer-songwriter, author, social activist, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
- Misty Copeland, African-American ballerina, American Ballet Theatre
- Eduardo Diaz, executive director, Smithsonian Latino Center
- Sarah Kate Ellis, media executive, president & CEO of GLAAD
- Roxane Gay, author, columnist
- John Gerzema, social strategist; executive chairman, Burson Marsteller's BAV Consulting
- Eunique Jones Gibson, cultural activist, photographer, author
- Vincent Gray, Mayor of Washington, D.C. (with Skype video)
- Sherrilyn Ifill, President, Director-Counsel of NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)
- Booker T. Jones, musician (Booker T. and the MGs), songwriter, and record producer
- Kerry Kennedy, activist, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy
- Kesha, singer-songwriter
- Daniel Dae Kim, actor (with Skype video)
- Walter Kirn, novelist
- Chris Kluwe, former NFL player, supporter of same-ex marriage
- Cyndi Lauper, singer-songwriter
- Frank Lowe, father (@GayAtHomeDad)
- Bonz Malone, actor, writer, "hip-hop anthropologist"
- Dr. Aletha Maybank, Assistant Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Sam Moore, singer-songwriter (with Skype video)
- Karla Mosley, actress
- Walter Mosley, author
- Graham Nash, singer-songwriter, musician
- Yoko Ono, singer-songwriter, artist
- Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts
- Chris Paul, NBA player, philanthropist
- Pauley Perrette, actress, documentary producer
- Lynn Povich, journalist
- Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore
- Martha Reeves, singer (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas)
- Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor
- Bill Richardson, former N.M. Governor, Ambassador to the United Nations, Secretary of Energy; founder, Richardson Center for Global Engagement
- Kristoff St. John, actor
- Robert Schenkkan, playwright
- Jill Schlesinger, CBS News senior business analyst, radio host
- Marianne Schnall, author, NPR commentator; founder and executive director of website Feminist.com
- The Rev. Al Sharpton, activist, MSNBC host (with Skype video)
- Russell Simmons, entrepreneur, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings; Chairman, Board of Directors, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding
- Anna Deavere Smith, playwright-actress
- Hudson Taylor, wrestler, founder of Athlete Ally (with Skype video)
- Aisha Tyler, actress, talk show host, music video director
- Alisa Valdes, author
- Jennifer Weiner, novelist, critic of gender bias in media
- Bill Whitaker, CBS News correspondent, "60 Minutes"
- Evan Wolfson, lawyer, gay rights advocate; founder, Freedom to Marry
- Lee Woodruff, author, co-founder, Bob Woodruff Foundation