International Civil Rights Walk of Fame

Image:International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.jpg

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.

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.{{Cite web |title=The International Civil Rights Walk of Fame |url=https://www.nps.gov/features/malu/feat0002/wof/about.htm |website=NPS.gov}}

The Walk of Fame is a product of Xernona Clayton, an American civil rights activist and executive broadcaster.{{Cite web |title=Xernona Clayton |url=https://www.nps.gov/features/malu/feat0002/wof/Xernona_Clayton.htm |website=NPS.gov}} In the National Historic Site location the Walk of Fame gets around 800,000 visitors a year.

Beginning in 2012, inductions will be held every two years.{{cite news | url=http://www.birminghamtimes.com/2013/12/international-civil-rights-walk-of-fame-announces-2014-inductees/ | title=International Civil Rights Walk of Fame Announces 2014 Inductees | newspaper=The Birmingham Times | date=December 19, 2013}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local/international-civil-rights-walk-fame-will-have-new-home/5JEfMleRQQO9je5y1oi8fO/ | title=International Civil Rights Walk of Fame will have new home | date= May 10, 2019 | author-first= Shelia M. | author-last=Poole | newspaper= The Atlanta Journal-Constitution}}

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=

=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