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 U.S. From 1934 to 1949 he was editor of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP. Wilkins served as a consultant to the War Department on black employment during World War II.

After the war he continued his service to the NAACP; he was executive secretary from 1955 to 1965 and executive director from 1965 until his retirement in 1977. He played a major role in the preparation of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) and was one of the organizers of the March on Washington in 1963.

Related Links:

• Roy Wilkins