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5-27-2021
Dr. Benjamin Hooks, Announcement of Final Year as NAACP Executive Director, Baltimore, Maryland
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Recommended Citation "Dr. Benjamin Hooks, Announcement of Final Year as NAACP Executive Director, Baltimore, Maryland" (2021). Benjamin Lawson Hooks Papers documents. 191. https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-0445-hooks-series1/191
This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Benjamin Lawson Hooks Papers at University of Memphis Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Benjamin Lawson Hooks Papers documents by an authorized administrator of University of Memphis Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NAACP NEWS -+ 05 Mt H opi:' Dm.t> Baltlmort> ~10 21215
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92-2 1 FO R IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2-1 5- 9 2 DR. HOOKS ANNOUNCES FINAL YEAR AS EXECU TIVE DIRECTOR/ CE O NAACP
The foll o~~n g sta t e me nt was r ead today b y Dr . Be n j am i n L .
Hooks, Executive Director/ CEO, NAACP, at the winter meeting o f
the National Bo ard of Directors of the NAACP, in New York City
at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
"I have advised the chairman of the National Board, the
Chairman of the SCF Truste es and the National President of the
NAACP , that this will be my last year as your Executive Director .
I have enjoyed immensely the privilege of s e rving you during
one of the most torturous periods in our p e ople ' s history.
Together we have accomplished much . We have kept the organi zation
alive and growing against seemingl y insurmountable odds . We have
maintained the integrity o f this organization and kept our name
out front and on the minds of those who would seek to turn back
the clock.
I am proud of what I have been able to do , and proud o f
the fine staff that we hve built over the years.
I l e ave you with only good feelings and the profound hope
that the NAACP will always keep its banner high and its sigh t
on its mission .
Although I will l e ave the d i rectorship of this organization ,
I am not leaving the Association. In the words of Roy Wilkin s , \ -2- who said during his £inal address in St. Louis in 1977, I
intend to continue to fight for and with t h is o rganization
as long as God gives breath to this body . And when I leave
these mundane shores, I intend to join the NAACP Omega Omega
Chapter , and with Roy Wilkins, Walter White, James We l don
Johnson , W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Clarence
Mitchell, Ruby Hurley, JessE Turner , Montague Cobb, Dr .
Claude Hudson, Medgar Evers, and a whole host of others I'll cheer you on until justice and righteouseness rule.
For now, I bid you Godspeed .
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