Daughters of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X walk in Actively Black Fashion Week show

The athleisure brand Actively Black featured footage from the Civil Rights Movement as well as some of the activists who are alive today, including Bernice King, Ilyasah Shabazz, Ruby Bridges and Cecil Williams.

In a New York Fashion Week twist, Civil Rights icons walked the runway for the Black-owned athleisure brand, Actively Black.

Ruby Bridges, who desegregated her school in Louisiana at the age of six years old in 1960, walked the show last night at the age of 71. Before she came out onto the runway, a video played of the racist reactions to her activism when she was just a child, and a child actor walked the runway with two older white men to represent the federal agents who were sent to protect Bridges and escorted her to and from the school. When the real Bridges came out, she wore a black sweatshirt dress and smiled and waved at the crowd.

The daughters of civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were also featured as models in the show. The brand’s founder Lanny Smith, posted photos of Dr. Bernice King and Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz wearing sweatshirts honoring their fathers and holding each other as they strutted up and down the catwalk. Smith also honored their mothers, Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz, in the show.

“I’ve cried 3 times since last night. Thank you for trusting me with this vision,” he wrote in the caption.

Bernice A. King posted photos from the night on X, calling Ilyasah Shabazz her “sister” and posting some words of encouragement to her followers.

“Let’s ‘walk together…and not get weary,'” she wrote.

Me and my sister, @ilyasahShabazz (daughter of #MalcolmX and #BettyShabazz), last night at the @ActivelyBlack NYFW Show.

Be encouraged, family.

Let’s “walk together…and not get weary.” #MLK #CorettaScottKing pic.twitter.com/TzPpJfkDT7— Be A King (@BerniceKing) September 13, 2025

Civil Rights Movement photographer Cecil Williams also walked the show while a photo of himself drinking at a “whites-only” water fountain as a teenager was featured in the background. He wore a sweatshirt with a colorized version of the photo on it, a collaboration between himself and the brand. Earlier this year, he shared the story behind the photo for Actively Black’s Instagram.

In a post featuring Williams’ moment in the fashion show, Smith wrote about how the Civil Rights Movement was not as long ago as people think. To have people such as Bridges, the King, Shabazz, and Williams is proof that many people who experienced Jim Crow and personally knew those who fought to end segregation are still alive today.

“People think the heinous and evil of Jim Crow was ancient times. Nah, people are STILL here who grew up in it. Thank you Cecil Williams for trusting my vision on this,” Smith wrote on Instagram.