The Big Six—Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young—were the leaders of six prominent civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
[1][2][3] In his autobiography, Lay Bare the Heart (1985), James Farmer identified the term "Big Six" as having originated with the founding of the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership.
He also noted that the press often referred to the group as the "Big Four", excluding Height and John Lewis, which he attributed to sexism and age bias, respectively.
[6][7] Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968), chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), was a Baptist minister, activist, and the most well-known leader and spokesperson of the Civil Rights Movement.
King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and he posthumously was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, nine years after his assassination in 1968.
These attempts allowed CORE to gain national traction, as people throughout the country were inspired to be volunteers for the organization to advocate for civil rights.
He launched a failed Congressional bid in 1968 and later faced criticism for his decision to be employed by President Richard Nixon, as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a job which Farmer claimed was an opportunity for African-Americans to directly influence federal policies.
He was a recipient of both the John F. Kennedy Library's Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010.