In the early twentieth-century, a group of British women launched a campaign to get women the right to vote. They called themselves the Suffragettes and their leader was Emmeline Pankhurst. Emmeline believed in ‘deeds not words’ and her militant tactics meant that she was no stranger to a prison cell. However even imprisoned, Pankhurst found ways to rebel and inspired fellow inmates to join her in hunger strike. Her campaign finally succeeded in 1928 (when all British women over the age of 21 were finally granted the vote). The victory however was bitter-sweet as Pankhurst herself had died just 2 weeks before.
In 1955, Rosa Parks became a powerful symbol for the American Civil Rights Movement when she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. Her refusal flouted the strict Alabama segregation laws and signalled to the authorities that Parks was taking a stand – or seat – against institutionalised racism. Her arrest for civil disobedience sparked a massive protest of the bus system and Parks emerged as one of the movements most important political activists. She remained a staunch campaigner for racial equality until her death in 2005.
