Roy Wilkins
| Roy Wilkins | |
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Roy Wilkins in 1968
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| Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People | |
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In office 1955–1977 |
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| Preceded by | Walter Francis White |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Hooks |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 30, 1901 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | September 8, 1981 (aged 80) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Height | 6' 3" |
| Spouse(s) | Aminda "Minnie" Badeau (1905–1994) |
| Children | None |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Occupation | Civil rights activist |
| Known for | NAACP involvement |
| Religion | Catholic |
Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent activist in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was in his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Wilkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901. When he was four years old, his mother died from tuberculosis, after which Wilkins and his siblings were raised by an aunt and uncle in an integrated community of St. Paul, Minnesota, where they attended local schools. Wilkins graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in sociology in 1923.
In 1929, he married social worker Aminda "Minnie" Badeau; the couple had no children of their own, but the couple did raise the two children of Hazel Wilkins-Colton, a writer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
While attending college, Wilkins worked as a journalist at The Minnesota Daily and became editor of The Appeal, an African-American newspaper. After he graduated he became the editor of The Call in 1923.
His confrontation of the Jim Crow Laws led his activist work and in 1931, he moved to New York City as assistant NAACP secretary under Walter Francis White. When W. E. B. Du Bois left the organization in 1934, Wilkins replaced him as editor of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP. From 1949-50, Wilkins chaired the National Emergency Civil Rights Mobilization, which comprised more than 100 local and national groups.
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