Wilkins, Roy Ottoway

Biography: 

(1901–81), managing editor, Kansas City Call (1923–31); assistant national secretary, NAACP (1931–49); editor, Crisis (1934–49); acting national secretary, NAACP (1949–50); administrator for internal affairs, NAACP (1950–55); national secretary and executive director, NAACP (1955–77); chair, LCCR (1955–77). In 1943, he represented NAACP during Philadelphia transit strike negotiations. He led the organization of the NECRM of 1950 in Washington, D.C., a coalition that became the fulcrum of the NAACP’s lobbying arm for civil rights laws. In 1952, NECRM and the NCPFEPC were merged with the LCCR. He was born in St. Louis and educated at the University of Minnesota.

Birth: 
1901 August 30
Death: 
1981 September 8
Gender: 
Male