Who were significant figures of the Civil Rights Movement between 1940 and 1970?

There were many figures of the Civil Rights Movement
between 1940 and 1970.  In 1948 "Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is
hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of
treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race,
color, religion, or national origin."

Thurgood Marshall an
attorney, battled and won the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Kansas.  The ruling in the case led the way for widespread desegregation in public
schools.

In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to
a white person.  "In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a
bus boycott, which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated Dec.
21, 1956."

Martin Luther King, Charles K Steele, and Fred
L. Shuttlesworth begin the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC  became a
driving force in the Civil Rights Movement.