Did You Know They Were There? Amazing Photos Of Celebrities Who Fought For Civil Rights

Marlon Brando

“I felt I’d better go find out where it is; what it is to be black in this country; what this rage is all about.”

Marlon Brando wasn’t just at the March on Washington where he’s pictured here, shaking hands with writer and activist James Baldwin. Brando was also a major contributor to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.) and established a scholarship fund for the children of slain Mississippi N.A.A.C.P. leader Medgar Evers.

Brando even bowed out of a major film (The Arrangement) to devote himself to the civil rights movement after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. On an episode of Inside The Actor’s Studio, actor Marin Sheen recalled:

“I’ll never forget the night that Reverend King was shot and I turned on the news and Marlon was walking through Harlem with Mayor Lindsay. And there were snipers and there was a lot of unrest and he kept walking and talking through those neighborhoods with Mayor Lindsay. It was one of the most incredible acts of courage I ever saw, and it meant a lot and did a lot.”