Mary White Ovington

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Ovington, Mary White

For Students

Martin Luther King, Jr. (center), with other civil rights supporters lock arms on as they lead the way along Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington, Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963.

Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About the American Civil Rights Movement

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Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

In 1958, Mildred Loving, a black woman, and her white husband, Richard Loving, went to Washington to get married. After they returned to Central Point, police raided their home and arrested them

50 Years Ago: Loving v. Virginia

Ancient book lit by candle

9 Obscure Literary Terms

African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

Police began to move in the area of 12th Street and Clairmont as hundreds of people fill the street with violence gaining momentum during the 1967 Detroit Race Riot.

The Riots of the Long, Hot Summer

Discover

Diverse elementary school children wearing school uniforms running outside of school. Boys girls

Pro and Con: School Uniforms

Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.

Why Is Ireland Two Countries?

Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 9th Mechanized Division learning to operate and maintain M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks at Besmaya Combat Training Center, Baghdad, Iraq, 2011. Military training. Iraq war. U.S. Army

8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century

Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that

America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)

A human Inuit skull in a stone chambered cairn in Ilulissat in Greenland. These ancient graves are pre christian and are at least 2000

14 Tough Questions Answered

The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Alice in Wonderland)

11 Banned Books Through Time

An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Mary White Ovington: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Born	April 11, 1865 • New York City • New York
Died	July 15, 1951 (aged 86) • Massachusetts
Founder	National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Notable Works	“Half a Man: The Status of the Negro in New York” • “Portraits in Color” • “The Walls Came Tumbling Down”
Role In	American civil rights movement

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Ovington, Mary White

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James Baldwin

James Baldwin

American author

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson

American writer

Quentin Reynolds

American journalist and writer

Ariel Durant

American author

Will Durant

American author

Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

American writer

Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser

American author

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

American author

Fred Shuttlesworth

Fred Shuttlesworth

American minister and civil rights activist

Rosa Parks sitting on a bus

Rosa Parks

American civil rights activist

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

American poet and educator

W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois

American sociologist and social reformer

Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay

American writer and cultural critic

John Oliver Killens

American writer and activist

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire

American dancer and singer

Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair

American novelist

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

American poet

Truman Capote

Truman Capote

American author

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks

American author, photographer, and film director

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller

American playwright

Quiz

Martin Luther King, Jr. (left of centre) and Malcolm X (right) waiting for a press conference, 1964.

American Civil Rights Movement Quiz

Martin Luther King, Jr. (center), with other civil rights supporters lock arms on as they lead the way along Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington, Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963.

Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About the American Civil Rights Movement