We're celebrating a new hero every day for the entire month of November. Check back each day to see who's added and share your favorites.
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We honor Paul Robeson: a College Football Hall of Famer who later went on to become a lawyer and successful actor. He also became a civil rights icon--notably meeting with President Harry Truman and demanded he take action against lynching and later founded the American Crusade Against Lynching.
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At the 1960 Rome Olympics she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad. She was also a civil rights activist--in May 1963 Rudolph participated in a civil rights protest in her hometown of Clarksville in an effort to desegregate one of the city's restaurants. Within a short time the mayor announced that the city's public facilities, including its restaurants, would become fully integrated.
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Jackie was not only the first Major League Baseball player, but also the first black television analyst in MLB, and helped establish the Freedom National Bank, a Black-owned financial institution. He was also an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement. "I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a Black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made."
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"After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States." -Curt Flood
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We honor Mahmoud Abdul Rauf—the incredible NBA player who was suspended from the league after refusing to stand during The Star Spangled Banner after acknowledging the United States flag as a symbol of oppression for marginalized communities. Mahmoud, we honor you for your sacrifice! Thank you!