8 Iconic Black Leaders Whose Wives Deserve More Recognition

Betty Shabazz (May 28, 1934 – June 23, 1997) Malcom X is one of the most well-known figures of the Civil Rights Movement. After his wife Betty Shabazz, who was pregnant with twins, witnessed his assassination alongside their four daughters, she continued her husband's work. Aside from raising her six daughters on her own, she got a Ph.D. in education administration, delivered countless lectures on civil rights, directed the department of Communications and Public Relations at Medgar Evers College and pushed forward her late husband's work on social justice. She also was a key player in establishing the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center in New York City's Washington Heights, the site of her husband's assassination. Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 – Jan. 30, 2006) When Martin Luther King Jr. was standing up for the rights of Black and poor people, there was one person he could always count on to stand by his side. His wife, Coretta Scott King, braved some of the same attacks and dangers as her husband, even receiving death threats to the family until the day she died. Her accomplishments were not limited to standing by her husband and family. Coretta Scott King is also responsible for establishing the King Center, an organization committed to continuing her husband's commitment to nonviolence, helping the impoverished and opposing discrimination. Among other things, she was responsible for the 20th anniversary March on Washington "Coalition of Conscience," in addition to helping to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a national holiday. Amy Jacques Garvey (Dec. 31, 1895 – July 25, 1973) Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey was the Jamaican-born second wife of Marcus Garvey, and a journalist, orator and activist in her own right. She worked relentlessly to strengthen her husband's platform, eventually becoming one of the prominent faces of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and a representation of the females of the organization. After Marcus Garvey was convicted of trumped-up mail fraud charges on June 21, 1923, Amy assumed leadership of the UNIA. She traveled and spoke all over the country to raise money for her husband's defense fund. Just several months after marrying Marcus Garvey, Amy Garvey began editing volume 1 of "The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey" (a compilation of her husband's writings and speeches). While running the UNIA and fighting for her husband's freedom, she edited and published volume 2 of "The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey" and two volumes of his poetry, "The Tragedy of White Injustice" and "Selections From the Poetic Meditations of Marcus Garvey." After her husband's death in 1940, Amy Garvey was a contributing editor to a journal called "The African," published in Harlem. In the late 1940s, she formed the African Study Circle of the World in Jamaica. She published her own book, "Garvey and Garveyism," in 1963, as well as a booklet, "Black Power in America: The Power of the Human Spirit, in 1968. Her final work was the "Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey Volume III," written with E.U. Essien-Udom. Her works have served as some of the best records available on the life of Marcus Garvey and have helped to undermine the concerted efforts of many to distort or hide his accomplishments and contributions to the liberation of Black people. Winnie Mandela (Sept. 26, 1936 - ) Nelson Mandela is credited as being the most instrumental person in ending apartheid in South Africa. But the anti-apartheid icon's ex-wife, Winnie Mandela, also played an important role in ending apartheid, eventually becoming regarded as the "Mother of the Nation." During her husband's 27-year imprisonment, Winnie Mandela bravely and selflessly picked up the revolutionary reigns. Despite several arrests, torture, intimidation and a year in solitary confinement, she managed to raise a family and become president of the African National Congress Women’s League. Clara Muhammad (Nov. 2, 1899 – Aug. 12, 1972) Elijah Muhammad is known as the most prolific leader of the Nation of Islam, but his wife, Clara Muhammad, is credited with introducing her husband to the teachings of Nation of Islam founder W.D. Fard. Known as the first lady of the Nation of Islam, Clara Muhammad guided the organization during her husband's absence from 1935 to 1946 as he fled death threats from rival temple leaders and was then incarcerated for sedition during World War II. After strongly disagreeing with many of the teaching policies prevalent in inner-city schools, Clara Muhammad helped to establish and run the University of Islam and Muslim Girls Training schools. These institutions provided education for Nation of Islam members' children and are considered one of the nation's early versions of religious home-schooling. After Clara Muhammad's death, her son, Warith Deen Mohammed, who assumed leadership of the Nation of Islam in 1975, renamed the University of Islam schools the Sister Clara Muhammad Schools in her honor. Dr. Mamphela Ramphele (Dec. 28, 1947 - ) Mamphela Aletta Ramphele is a South African politician, former anti-apartheid and community development activist, a medical doctor, a community development activist, a researcher, a university executive, a global public servant and is now an active citizen in both the public and private sectors. Although she was not officially married to Steve Biko, she had two children with him and co-founded the Black Consciousness Movement with him. As a member of the BCM, she was crucially involved in organizing and working with community development programs. Ramphele also worked with the South African Students Association (SASO), a breakaway from the multiracial National Union of South African Students. SASO was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Biko. From 1970 on, Ramphele became increasingly drawn into political activism with Biko, Barney Pityana and other student activists at the medical school. Following the Soweto uprising in 1976, she was detained without trial, released after five months and soon afterwards served with an apartheid banning order. Dr Ramphele is the author of several books and publications on socio-economic issues in South Africa. She has received numerous national and international awards acknowledging her scholarship and leading role in spearheading projects for disadvantaged people in South Africa and elsewhere. Myrlie Evers-Williams (March 17, 1933 - ) Myrlie Evers-Williams, the wife of Medgar Evers, is a civil rights activist and journalist who worked for more than three decades to seek justice for the murder of her activist husband in 1963. She was also chairwoman of the NAACP and published several books on topics related to civil rights and her husband’s legacy. When Evers became the Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP in 1954, his wife worked alongside him to organize voter registration drives and civil rights demonstrations and to end the practice of racial segregation in schools and other public facilities. During the couple's fight for racial equality, they braved death threats, the Ku Klux Klan and having their house firebombed. While fighting to get justice for Medgar Evers' assassination, Myrlie co-wrote "For Us, the Living," which chronicled her late husband's life and work in 1967. She also made two unsuccessful bids for U.S. Congress and was the director of planning at the center for Educational Opportunity for the Claremont Colleges. Miriam Makeba (March 4, 1932 – Nov. 9, 2008) Miriam Makeba was a South African singer and civil rights activist. Her marriage to Trinidad-born civil rights activist, Black Panther and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were canceled. As a result, the couple moved to Guinea, her home for the next 15 years, where she eventually was appointed Guinea's official delegate to the United Nations, for which she won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986. In addition to having a globally successful music career, Makeba was well-known for denouncing apartheid on the world stage and campaigning abroad for the end of the oppressive policy. Despite the success that made her a star, she refused to wear makeup or curl her hair for performances, proudly wearing what came to be known internationally as the "Afro-look."

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