The Most Influential Activists and Reformers in History
Through moral courage and mass movements, these activists and reformers expanded human rights and reshaped nations — often without firing a shot.
- 1 95
Martin Luther King Jr.
Activist · 1929 – 1968
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader who championed nonviolent resistance to racial injustice and became the most prominent voice of the movement for equality in the United States.
- 2 93
Mahatma Gandhi
Activist · 1869 – 1948
Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of India's independence movement, who pioneered the philosophy and practice of nonviolent civil disobedience and inspired movements for civil rights across the world.
- 3 92
Nelson Mandela
Statesman · 1918 – 2013
Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and statesman who, after 27 years in prison, became the country's first democratically elected president and a global symbol of reconciliation.
- 4 91
Martin Luther
Theologian · 1483 – 1546
Martin Luther was a German theologian and reformer whose challenge to the Catholic Church sparked the Protestant Reformation and reshaped the religious, political and cultural landscape of Europe.
- 5 86
Florence Nightingale
Nurse · 1820 – 1910
Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer and statistician, the founder of modern nursing, whose work in the Crimean War and pioneering use of data transformed hospital care and public health.