[Note: this Blog is sadly late and thus is out of order. ]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/us/politics/27cashin.html?ref=civilrights
John Cashin Jr. was an African-American man who fought for the civil rights movement in running for office. He started a branch of the Democratic party in Alabama, and that party made a lot of headway in the civil rights cause. Some of its candidates were eliminated from the ballot by officials, so the party sued them. This case was taken before the Supreme Court, who ruled in the candidates' favour. Many candidates won.
Cashin's story reminds me of the Delaney sisters'. For one thing, before he was a politician, he was a dentist like Bessie. Also, he earned his degree from a predominately black institution, like the one the Delaneys grew up in. He also lived to old age--82--though he wasn't a hundred years old.
He also campaigned for civil rights nonviolently, like Martin Luther King, Jr.
Although his record wasn't spotless--he took the Delaneys' trick of cashing a parent's social security check after their death, but actually kept doing it for months, so he served some prison time--his political career, even when unsuccessful, gave other African-Americans a good example to go by. That is, he showed that even when the establishment is set against you, your cause can prevail.
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