Roy Wilkins was a U.S. civil rights leader. In 1931, he was appointed assistant executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the largest civil rights organization in the United States. In 1955, he was named the NAACP’s executive secretary, a position he held for the next 22 years. As a writer and spokesman for the civil rights movement, he inspired presidents and members of Congress to pay attention to the rights of African Americans. When asked to describe his greatest satisfaction in life, he pointed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 that ended segregation in public schools.
