The Resume

(August 30, 1901-September 8, 1981)
Born in St. Louis, Missouri
Edited the newspapers 'The St. Paul Appeal' and 'The Kansas City Call' and the magazine 'The Crisis'
Co-founder of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (1950)
Executive director of the NAACP (1964-79)
Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1967)
Chaired the US delegation to the International Conference on Human Rights (1968)
Wrote the autobiography 'Standing Fast' (published posthumously, 1982)

Why he might be annoying:

Throughout his life, he referred to blacks using the increasingly archaic word 'Negro.' (And headed an organization using the even more out of date 'colored.')
He got into a dispute with Martin Luther King, Jr over King's opposition to the Vietnam War, saying 'I don't believe civil rights groups have enough information on Vietnam, or on foreign policy, to make it their cause.'
Towards the end of his tenure at the NAACP, he was accused of poor record keeping and fiscal mismanagement.
Despite his advocacy of nonviolence, he said one of the two people he most admired in history was Nat Turner. (The other was Harriet Tubman.)

Why he might not be annoying:

He was raised by his aunt and uncle after his mother died of tuberculosis.
He was married to Minnie Badeau for 51 years until his death.
With Thurgood Marshall, he planned the strategy for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, which he called his 'crowning achievement.'
He opposed demands by militants for all-black departments at universities, calling it a 'return to segregation and Jim Crow.'
He said, 'I may be an incurable optimist, but I believe there are more people who want to do good than do evil.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Black Heritage Commemorative Stamp Series (Ranked: 2001)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 31]
• Civil Rights Activists
• Dick Cavett Show Guests
• Gil Scott-Heron's 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' References
• I am from St. Louis
• I am on a U.S. Postage Stamp [U-Z]
• I Attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom [August 28, 1963]
• I Attended University of Minnesota
• I Died in 1981 (Ranked: 80)
• Look at Me, I'm on the Cover of Time
• Look at My Magazine Cover
• Newspaper Journalists/Editors/Publishers
• Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
• Profiles 29751-30000 (Ranked: 29790)
• Spingarn Medal Winners (Ranked: 1964)
• U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 17 Votes: 64.71% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 36 Votes: 27.78% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 37 Votes: 24.32% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 31 Votes: 61.29% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 29 Votes: 79.31% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 64 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 129 Votes: 44.96% Annoying