Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Malcolm X: Civil Rights Leaders With Style (PHOTOS)

There is strength in style--the civil-rights movement is a perfect example.

Robin Givhan said it best in her essay about the civil-rights movement's legacy of stylish dignity:

"Style, after all, plays the role of silent orator in most every form of protest. And as civil-rights advocates fought for their humanity, self-definition was a fundamental goal. Fashion was essential."

The clothes worn by African American leaders and supporters during the movement were just as refined, sophisticated and inspiring as the way they fought for equality.

Martin Luther King Jr. knew when to hang up his sharp suits for a more causal style statement. Malcolm X was dashing in his black rimmed glasses and white bow tie while speaking at a rally. Angela Davis glowed in her larger-then-life afro. Rosa Parks even looked beautifully pulled together in a skirt suit during her infamous bus boycott arrest and mugshot.

So, in celebration of MLK Day here's a look at some of our favorite fashion forward snapshots from the movement. Enjoy!

Comments

[FiredUpRTG]

11:58 PM on 01/19/2012

First off, EVERYONE dressed better in those days. Secondly, having a clean appearance was very important in order to be taken seriously while working for the cause.

[StilettoFilms]

05:02 PM on 01/16/2012

I love this!

[Mary Mary Morgan]

04:25 PM on 01/16/2012

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath-
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain-
All, all the stretch of these great green states-
And make America again!

- Langston Hughes

[Mary Mary Morgan]

04:23 PM on 01/16/2012

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where it is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That anyone be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free".)

[Louise 1]

01:38 PM on 01/16/2012

I totally love this article and the photos that accompany it. I have often admired how classy and well-dressed the people were back then; they rocked the fifties and sixties and seventies styles with class and dignity. Great article!

[Barry Risper]

07:24 PM on 01/15/2012

As superficial as this may sound, looking sharp was an imperative, especially when you cosider the smear campaigns these people were subjected to at the time. They were called "outside agitators" communists, anti-American, many of the same insults the right hurls at people to this day, so looking the part was one less thing they could be criticized for.

[salesdude]

11:16 AM on 01/26/2012

All true, you definitely got more respect from the average people [especially whites] if you were well dressed, but keep in mind the standards of dress and what was acceptable normally for the day was much more conservative.

I can vividly remember that my parents always dressed up when they left the house and especially when they traveled. Service employees all wore uniforms including gas station attendants and delivery men. In fact, even men who wore coveralls to work wore a shirt and tie under them. A suit was just part of a man's normal wardrobe.

Looking presentable was just something you did because you took pride in your appearance and wanted to ALWAYS put your best foot forward. It mattered what people thought of you.
In some ways it's too bad those days are gone...

[Assumed Name]

07:06 PM on 01/15/2012

Ossie Davis' eulogy of Malcolm X from the film "Malcolm X":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2PQ3XY_j2E

[Assumed Name]

07:03 PM on 01/15/2012

The Beatles, "Blackbird": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5CUHHGlQg0

[Adonijah]

06:38 PM on 01/15/2012

Wonderful photos! I really like slide #1 (pic of the very lovely Mrs King).

[msumtimes]

05:08 PM on 01/15/2012

wow!

[algonquin j calhoun]

02:46 PM on 01/15/2012

"Rosa Parks looked beautifully pulled together in a skirt suit during her infamous bus boycott arrest" is the single most ludicrous sentence written by a journalist in the last one hundred years.