Walter F. White : the NAACP's ambassador for racial justice / Robert L. Zangrando, Ronald L. Lewis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zangrando, Robert L., author.

Lewis, Ronald L., 1940- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

White, Walter, 1893-1955.

White, Walter.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People--Biography.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

African American civil rights workers--Biography.

African American civil rights workers.

African Americans--Civil rights--History--20th century.

African Americans.

African Americans--Civil rights.

History.

Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.

Civil rights movements.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 445 pages : illustration ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Morgantown : West Virginia University Press, 2019.

Summary:

"Walter F. White of Atlanta, Georgia, joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1918 as an assistant to Executive Secretary James Weldon Johnson. When Johnson retired in 1929, White replaced him as head of the NAACP, a position he maintained until his death in 1955. During his long tenure, White was in the vanguard of the struggle for interracial justice. His reputation went into decline, however, in the era of grassroots activism that followed his death. White's disagreements with the US Left, and his ambiguous racial background--he was of mixed heritage, could "pass" as white, and divorced a black woman to marry a white woman--fueled ambivalence about his legacy. In this comprehensive biography, Zangrando and Lewis seek to provide a reassessment of White within the context of his own time, revising critical interpretations of his career. White was a promoter of and a participant in the Harlem Renaissance, a daily fixture in the halls of Congress lobbying for civil rights legislation, and a powerful figure with access to the administrations of Roosevelt (via Eleanor) and Truman. As executive secretary of the NAACP, White fought incessantly to desegregate the American military and pushed to ensure equal employment opportunities. On the international stage, White advocated for people of color in a decolonized world, and for economic development aid to nations like India and Haiti, bridging the civil rights struggles at home and abroad"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Atlanta days

Back to the South and up to the Hill: the antilynching campaign

Pan-Africanism and the Harlem Renaissance

The challenges of leadership

Legal battles and Walter White's triumph

On Haiti's behalf

Race and class: the Harris challenge

A renewed antilynching campaign

At the top of his game

Bargaining with a president

Confronting Hollywood

Fighting for jobs and ballots

Wartime challenges

Overseas in wartime

A world awaiting

Postwar violence and an extraordinary presidential committee

Poppy

A pivotal year

The election of Truman, 1948

A final breach with Du Bois

To Paris and Berlin

Months of stress and tension

"Active when absent"

Conservative revival in the troubled fifties

A global advocacy

Diminished final years.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 425-432) and index.

ISBN:

9781946684622

1946684627

OCLC:

1028613760