Most pivotal citizens in US history.

I was thinking about Ellsberg's death and how consequential his actions were - The papers of course, but it also put Nixon over the edge and was a significant motivator for the "plumbers" and what followed with Watergate.

Obviously, when you are talking about consequential "citizens" (non public figures, not in government who really moved the needle of US history (without firing a gun) you go with Rosa Parks, Norma McCorvey, Dred Scott and Oliver Brown (v. Board of Education).

 

Salk, Tesla, Edison.

 

Paul Revere, Eli Whitney, Dr. Martin Luther Lint, Malcolm X.

 

Henrietta Lacks.

 

Alexander Graham Bell can also be on the list.

 

Tiny keyboard/ autocomplete issue.

 

Yeah, I met Dr. Martin Luther Lint in Memphis, Tennessee in 1962. I was walkin down the street, minding my own business. Feeling good. I walk around the corner and and a man hit me in the chest and knocked me down. And I look up, and it’s Dr. Martin Luther Lint. I said, “Dr. Lint?” And he says “Oops. I thought you were somebody else.”

 

George Floyd.

 

Dr. Martin Luther Lint invented the lint trap used in every dryer today. Without him, where would we be? Stuck with little fuzzballs all over our clothes, that's where!

 

These are belly button issues.

 

Doesn't meet the "without firing a gun" criteria, but:

Joseph Warren

 

John. Paul. George. Ringo.