Black History Month: Celebrating African American Animal Advocates

February is Black History Month, when we celebrate the many contributions that African Americans have made to the world. African Americans' centuries-long history of struggles and triumphs is rich and varied, and continues on today with many making history in the present as advocates for animals. In years and decades to come, the animal rights movement will remember these individuals as having made a real difference for other species, just as their ancestors fought for freedom and justice from the days of slavery into the civil rights movement and beyond.

Civil and Animal Rights

It is no surprise that some veteran civil rights figures have been outspoken on behalf of animal rights. Comedian, actor and activist Dick Gregory is a longtime vegan who often marched against segregation in the 1960s. He once wrote, "Animals in circuses represent the domination and oppression we have fought against for so long. They wear the same chains and shackles." Minister, community leader and political activist Al Sharpton has worked to get Kentucky Fried Chicken to improve their suppliers' animal welfare standards. The late Richard Pryor shattered race barriers with his breakthrough comedy in the 1970s. Later, he became a dedicated animal advocate and, with his wife Jennifer Lee Pryor, founded a non-profit, Pryor's Planet, as part of his legacy.

During his lifetime, the great humanitarian and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. established an extraordinary legacy of peacefully pursuing freedom and equality for everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity. His family carried on his legacy and also applied his values to animals. Had Dr. King not been assassinated in 1968, he probably would have followed the compassionate example of his wife, Coretta Scott King and their oldest son Dexter, who both became vegan for ethical reasons. Dexter, a minister like his father, has been a vegan since 1988, and has called animal rights a "logical extension" of his father's commitment to non-violence. Coretta, who died in January 2006, said that her conversion to veganism in 1995 was "a blessing."

African American Cultural Icons

Many of today's most respected and influential African American artists are also pro-animal. Poet Maya Angelou appeared in an IDA PSA called "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" based on the title of her autobiographical book to encourage bird guardians to ensure that their feathered friends don't just languish neglected in cages. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker once famously wrote that animals "were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men."

There are numerous conscious hip-hop musicians who are vegan, including Common, Outkast's Andre 3000, Erykah Badu and Spearhead frontman Michael Franti, who was converted to veganism by his son. The duo Dead Prez raps about veganism in their song "Be Healthy": "I don't eat meat, no dairy, no sweets -- only ripe vegetables, fresh fruit and whole wheat." These artists bring a positive message to the masses about changing our relationship with animals using rap, R&B and other musical styles as a vehicle for progressive social change.

Def Jam Records mogul Russell Simmons was one of the first and still one of the most famous vegans in hip-hop, and has inspired many rappers to change. He has spoken out against abuse of animals by agribusiness and other industries. "I look at my dog, Zoe, and it's like, if I wore fur, I'd be wearing Zoe," said Simmons. "Cruelty is cruelty, whether it's cruelty to children, to the elderly, to dogs and cats, or to chickens." Many hip-hop artists appear in the new DVD documentary, Holistic Wellness for the Hip-Hop Generation.
Health and Fitness

African Americans also promote veganism from a health and fitness standpoint. Carl Lewis, a track and field athlete who won nine gold medals at the Olympics between 1984 and 1996, said "my best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet." IDA's own Vegan Spokesperson, bodybuilder Kenneth Williams, has promoted compassion for animals as host of Undercover TV; as a speaker in classrooms and at conferences and festivals; and in PSAs and ads, including our billboard campaign. IDA has also been working with Dr. Milton Mills from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to promote soy milk in our nation's schools because about 70% of African Americans are lactose intolerant. 

Veganism is becoming a force in African American culture, much as African American culture has become a driving force in mainstream culture and media. There is a broadening awareness in society that diet, health and compassion are inextricably linked, and that all people and animals are interconnected, regardless of race or species differences. IDA honors the powerful African Americans who have seen that enslaving animals for food, clothing and other uses is just as wrong as discriminating against other people because of the color of their skin.

During Black History Month, learn more about African American animal advocates and culture:

• Visit BlackVegetarians.org for links to local black vegetarian organizations, meatless soul food recipes, health information, and other resources.
• Read The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery, by Marjorie Spiegel, which examines the parallels between how whites treated blacks under slavery and how humans now treat other species. This concise book includes terse, insightful prose and side-by-side period illustrations of punishment and restraint devices used on slaves juxtaposed with photographs of similar mechanisms being used today to subjugate animals.