Walter White: Mr. NAACP

by Kenneth Robert Janken

Walter White (1893-1955) was among the nation's preeminent champions of civil rights. With blond hair and blue eyes, he could "pass" as white even though he identified as African American, and his physical appearance allowed him to go undercover to investigate more than 40 lynchings and race riots in the years following World War I. As executive secretary of the NAACP from 1931 until his death in 1955, White promoted the Harlem Renaissance and led influential national campaigns against lynching, segregation in the military, and racism in Hollywood movies. In this first scholarly biography, Kenneth Robert Janken considers the man who embodied many contradictions. Walter White gained access to white elite culture, establishing friendships with Eleanor Roosevelt and numerous congressmen and Supreme Court justices, but he ultimately considered himself--and was considered by many--an organization man, "Mr. NAACP."

512 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2006

Reviews

[Clayton Brannon]

An almost completely forgotten leader of the NAACP. The man who kept the dream alive and did more to expand the works of the NAACP in its most trying times. He paved the way for all the progress that was to be made in the middle and latter 20th century. Remarkable man. A must read for everyone with even the smallest interest in civil rights.