callings of the archive
Human rights defender Biographies
Every archived life recorded as human rights defender, ordered by their place in the ledger.
Contemporary era
Phil Zimmermann
b. February 12, 1954
Creator of Pretty Good Privacy
Alex Gladstein
Chief Strategy Officer of Human Rights Foundation
Contemporary era
Mustafa Al-Kadhimi
b. July 5, 1967
Iraqi politician
Modern era
Desmond Tutu
October 7, 1931 – December 26, 2021
South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner (1931–2021)
Modern era
Corazon Aquino
January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009
President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992
Contemporary era
Aung San Suu Kyi
b. June 19, 1945
Former State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy
Modern era
Malcolm X
May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965
American Black rights activist (1925–1965)
Contemporary era
Rosa Parks
February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005
Seamstress whose refusal to move ignited the Montgomery bus boycott
Modern era
John Lewis
February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020
American politician and civil rights leader (1940–2020)
Modern era
Bessie Coleman
January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926
American aviator (1892–1926)
Modern era
Harriet Tubman
1821 – March 10, 1913
African-American abolitionist (1822–1913)
Modern era
Susan B. Anthony
February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906
American women's rights activist (1820–1906)
Modern era
Emmeline Pankhurst
July 15, 1858 – June 14, 1928
English suffragist
Modern era
Medgar Evers
July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963
African-American civil rights activist (1925-1963)
Modern era
Cesar Chavez
March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993
Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist (1927–1993)
Modern era
Mother Jones
May 1, 1830 – November 30, 1930
Irish-born American labor and community organizer (1837–1930)
Contemporary era
Rigoberta Menchu
b. January 9, 1959
Guatemalan human rights activist
Modern era
Harvey Milk
May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978
American politician and gay rights activist (1930–1978)
Contemporary era
Malala Yousafzai
b. July 12, 1997
Youngest Nobel laureate, voice for girls' education
Modern era
Habib Jalib
March 24, 1928 – March 13, 1993
Pakistani poet (1928–1993)
Contemporary era
Sabeen Mahmud
June 20, 1975 – April 24, 2015
Pakistani human rights activist (1974–2015)
Contemporary era
Asma Jahangir
January 27, 1952 – February 11, 2018
Pakistani human rights activist and lawyer (1952–2018)
Contemporary era
Ansar Burney
b. August 14, 1956
Pakistani human and civil rights activist
Modern era
Vinoba Bhave
September 11, 1895 – November 15, 1982
Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights (1895-1982)
Modern era
Mahasweta Devi
January 14, 1926 – July 28, 2016
Indian Bengali fiction writer and socio-political activist (1926-2016)
Modern era
Rasool Bux Palijo
February 21, 1930 – June 7, 2018
Pakistani revolutionary (1930–2018)
Modern era
Angela Davis
b. January 26, 1944
American political activist, scholar, and author (born 1944)
Modern era
Jesse Jackson
October 8, 1941 – February 17, 2026
American Baptist minister, activist, civil rights leader, politician, and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (1941–2026)
Modern era
Andrei Sakharov
May 21, 1921 – December 14, 1989
Soviet nuclear physicist and human rights activist (1921–1989)
Contemporary era
Liu Xiaobo
December 28, 1955 – July 13, 2017
Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist (1955–2017)