Approaching literacy through a human rights lens potentially equips children with the courage and support needed to face sources of human suffering; develop compassion for others; and identify obstacles to their sentience, autonomy, and well-being. A human rights view of literacy pedagogy necessarily involves attending to the moral reasoning of social actors and recognizing what conditions enliven literacy practices for social change. Human rights-themed picturebooks offer students models of activist leaders whose moral courage obliges them to call out injustices, inspire social reforms, and build alliances to work through political divides for the sake of justice. As preservice teacher educators of language arts and social studies, the authors ascribe to a human rights view of literacy education. In this article, the authors briefly review the existing literature on human rights activism and picturebooks, then present findings from their analysis of twenty-five picturebook biographies of human rights activists. The authors' findings reveal four typologies of activist leaders: Rescuers, Nonviolent Resistors, Integrators, and Builders. The authors draw upon examples from the picturebooks to demonstrate how these typologies provide insight into the relationship between moral courage and social activism. Furthermore, the authors invite educators and young people to examine human rights struggles and social movements with both broader and more nuanced recognition of activist orientations, approaches, and moral perception.