10 Black Philosophers Who Helped Spark Black Consciousness

Marcus Garvey Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist and entrepreneur who was a strong proponent of the Black nationalism movement and the Pan-Africanism movement. Garvey founded the Black Star Line, which promoted the return of the African diaspora, and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). Malcolm X Born Malcolm Little, the human rights activist is arguably one of the most well-known Black philosophers of his time. While many remember him as a rather controversial figure, his most loyal followers celebrate him as a courageous advocate for the rights of Black people who also held white America accountable for crimes against the Black community. bell hooks Born as Gloria Jean Watkins, bell hooks is best known by her pen name. She authored a vast collection of notable works focused on race, capitalism, sexuality and feminism through a postmodern perspective. The types of ideas and social concepts that hooks explored in her works remain popular today and have sparked a higher level of thinking among many women, particularly Black women, all across the globe. Angela Davis Angela Davis is another controversial figure who shaped Black consciousness. The activist, scholar and author is one of the most prominent figures in counterculture activism and a well-known radical who served as a leader of the Communist Party USA. Davis also had close ties to the Black Panther Party and was actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement. She later founded Critical Resistance, an organization that works to abolish the prison-industrial complex. Martin Luther King Jr. Perhaps one of the most influential voices of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. has played a major role in shaping Black consciousness today. The iconic activist, humanitarian and pastor is credited for much of the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement and remembered for his dedication to combating racism through nonviolent civil disobedience that extended from his Christian beliefs. Frederick Douglass After escaping from slavery, Frederick Douglass emerged as a key leader in the abolitionist movement. As he became known for his eloquent speeches and incisive anti-slavery writings, he served as living proof that slave owners’ claims that Blacks lacked intelligence were extremely far from the truth. Douglass was also the first African-American to be nominated to be vice president of the United States. Steve Biko Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Steve Biko was a prominent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. As a student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement, which empowered many other Black individuals and coined the slogan “Black is beautiful.” Anna J. Cooper The American author and educator is still remembered today as one of the most prominent African-American scholars in U.S. history. Anna J. Cooper was born into enslavement in North Carolina, but by the age of 10, she earned a scholarship that allowed her to kick-start her impressive academic career at Saint Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh. Cooper fought for the right to take a class that the school initially reserved for male students only. After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 1924, she became only the fourth Black woman to earn a doctoral degree. W.E.B. Du Bois The Massachusetts-born sociologist, historian, author, civil rights activist and Pan-Africanist became the first African-American to earn a doctorate before later becoming a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. W.E.B. Du Bois also became one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the early 1900s. Du Bois garnered national recognition when he became the leader of the Niagara Movement, which was a group of African-American activists who pushed for equal rights for Blacks. Hubert Henry Harrison Hubert Henry Harrison was one of the most influential Black radical voices in New York in the 1900s. The St. Croix native came to the States at the age of 17 and would soon play a significant role in shaping Black consciousness in New York. From 1912 to 1914, Harrison was a leading Black organizer in the Socialist Party of America and later founded the Liberty League and The Voice, which was the first newspaper of the race-conscious “New Negro” movement. Activist A. Philip Randolph has described him as “the father of Harlem radicalism” and historian Joel Augustus Rogers said he was the “foremost Afro-American intellect of his time.” Others have also hailed him as the “Black Socrates.”

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