Want to honor Italian heritage? Skip Columbus and learn about these justice fighters. In the fight to abolish Columbus Day, we invariably hear from people who defend the holiday because it recognizes a historic figure of Italian heritage.

Our response is that there are many other people of Italian heritage worthy of attention—people who have played an active role in the struggle for labor rights, gay and lesbian rights, human rights, and civil rights. Here are just a few people of note of Italian heritage. We welcome your suggestions of people to add to this list. Email [email protected].

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/