Roy Wilkins

Roy Wilkins 1901-81, American social reformer and civil-rights leader, b. St. Louis, Mo.; grad. Univ. of Minnesota (B.A., 1923). While a student, Wilkins served as secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Upon graduation, he joined the Kansas City (Mo.) Call, a black weekly newspaper, and was its managing editor until 1931, when he became assistant executive secretary of the NAACP and editor of its official magazine, The Crisis. In 1955 he became executive secretary of the NAACP and in 1965, when the title of the position was changed, executive director, a position he held until 1977. In 1963 he helped organize the historic civil-rights march on Washington, D.C. Devoted to the principle of nonviolence, Wilkins came under increasing attack in the 1960s and early 70s from more militant blacks.

Wilkins, Roy (1901–81) US social reformer and civil rights leader. The grandson of a slave, he worked for Black newspapers before he joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1931. He was an active leader of the CIVIL RIGHTS movement to improve the status of the Black population. He held high executive office in the NAACP from 1955 to 1977, but came under increasing criticism from Black militants towards the end of his life, for his commitment to non-violence.