On Thursday (Jan. 29), federal agents arrested Don Lemon and three other Black leaders for documenting anti-ICE protests at a Minnesota church last week. While Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort were later released on Friday, Jan. 30, their arrests serve as a chilling reminder of what it means to be Black and speak out against injustice in America.
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Throughout history and over the last decade, Black political figures, journalists and celebrities have been arrested for fighting for civil rights in America, and Lemon’s latest arrest is no different. Here are 17 more times Black public figures were arrested for the same
Martin Luther King Jr.
During the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested over 20 times for charges ranging from civil disobedience to traffic charges, according to Boise State University.
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was famously arrested for violating segregation laws in Birmingham, Alabama, when she refused to move from her seat on a bus. Parks’ bravery helped to launch the Alabama bus boycott.
Claudette Colvin
Nine months before Parks’ arrest, Claudette Colvin was arrested for the same charges. While she was not the face of the bus boycott movement, Colvin was a principal witness in the Browder v. Gayle lawsuit, helping to ban segregation on public transport, according to The Root.
Jesse Jackson
Rev. Jesse Jackson has been arrested multiple times during his career as a civil rights activist. In 1960, Jackson was part of the Greenville Eight, a group of eight college students arrested for reading in the whites-only Greenville Public Library in South Carolina. Most recently, Jackson was arrested in 2021 in Washington, D.C., for protesting voting rights, according to ABC.
Julian Bond
The late civil rights activist Julian Bond was arrested twice throughout his career. In 1960, as a student at Morehouse College, Bond was arrested for organizing a protest against segregated public facilities in Atlanta. In 1985, Bond was arrested again for protesting apartheid in South Africa outside the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C., according to The New York Times.
Harry Belafonte
In 1985, the entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte was arrested alongside Julian Bond for protesting apartheid in South Africa, according to The Washington Post. Belafonte also put his money to good use. In 1963, he helped raise close to $50,000 to release King and other civil rights activists from jail after their protest in Birmingham, Alabama, according to NBC News.
Maya Angelou
In the 1980s, poet and activist Maya Angelou was arrested for protesting apartheid in South Africa at U.C. Berkeley’s Sproul Hall, according to the Zinn Education Project.
DeRay Mckesson
Only ten years ago, in 2016, activist Deray McKesson was arrested for filming Black Lives Matter protests in Baton Rouge, La. McKesson was recording along the Airline Highway when he was arrested for obstruction of a roadway, according to ABC News.
Earl Caldwell
In 1968, journalist Earl Caldwell was held in contempt of court for refusing to inform the FBI about the Black Panther Party, according to the law project from Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute, Oyez.
Angela Davis
Political activist and author Angela Davis famously spent time on the FBI’s most wanted list before being arrested after guns used during an attack on a courthouse were found to be under her name, according to The Root. She spent 16 months in jail before being acquitted on all charges.
Ralph Abernathy
As a civil rights activist, Rev. Ralph Abernathy walked alongside and was arrested with Martin Luther King Jr. multiple times. In 1967, the pair served a jail sentence for peacefully protesting against bans on “race mixing” in Birmingham, Ala., according to the Equal Justice Initiative.
Wesley Lowery
In 2015, journalist Wesley Lowery was charged with trespassing for covering the protests in Ferguson, Miss. after the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, according to Reuters. Brown was reporting at a nearby McDonald’s that was being used as a staging area for journalists.
Porsha Williams
Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams was arrested twice during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 for protesting the shooting of Breonna Taylor, according to Vanity Fair.
Trae Tha Truth
Houston rapper Trae Tha Truth was arrested in 202o for protesting against the death of Breonna Taylor outside the front lawn of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s house in Louisville, Ky., according to Pitchfork.
Cordae
Along with Trae Tha Truth, rapper Cordae, formally known as YBN Cordae, was arrested for protesting the shooting of Breonna Taylor, per the radio station, Capital XTRA.
Kwame Ture
Kwame Ture, née Stokely Carmichael, was arrested over 30 times during his political career, according to the independent socialist magazine Monthly Review. As a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he was arrested for challenging segregation laws. In 1986, he was arrested in Guinea, Africa, after being accused of a coup attempt against Guinean President Lansanah Conteh, according to TIME.
Dick Gregory
Late comedian and activist Dick Gregory was arrested numerous times during his career. In 1963, he was arrested for civil disobedience for protesting in Birmingham, Ala., according to the National Park Service. In 1975, Gregory was arrested for protesting against “involvement by the Central Intelligence Agency in domestic assassinations” in front of the White House without a permit, per The New York Times.
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