Black women have long battled at the forefront of civil rights movements.  Their leadership and commitment have shaped what we recognize as Black Freedom Movements. The discussion moderated by Melissa Harris-Perry included Joyce Ladner, sociologist and civil rights activist; Avis Jones De-Weever, former executive director, National Council of Negro Women; Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and Charlene A. Carruthers, national director, Black Youth Project 100 as panelists.

In 1960, Ruby Bridges was the only first grader to attend class at the then all-white William Frantz Elementary School, when New Orleans decided to integrate its previously segregated school system.

Black history and Civil Rights are never just reserved for February.

Many are familiar with the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church that claimed four young lives; however, little attention has been given over the years to Sarah Collins Rudolph. Rudolph was also injured in the blasts on September 15, 1963; however, she escaped the rubble. Her sister, 14-year-old Addie Mae Collins, did not. Collins spoke to a few media outlets last year to mark the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.

In this short clip from Melissa Harris-Perry's MLK Day talk at the University of Rochester, the Tulane professor underscores the importance of remembering Martin Luther King, Jr as a man and not the sanitized myth we're often fed.