Benjamin L. Hooks, a champion of civil rights, public servant, minister and fiery public orator who served as executive director of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People during a tumultuous period in the organization’s history, died Thursday in Memphis, the city where he was born. He was 85.
Mr. Hooks is best known for his sometimes stormy tenure at the NAACP, but he spent much of his life fighting against racial justice and equality. He was inspired to do so by his experience in World War II. Assigned to guard Italian prisoners of war, he was incensed to find that the prisoners were allowed to eat in “for whites only” restaurants while he was not able to do so.
Such flagrant bigotry prompted Mr. Hooks to champion social justice. He attended law school, tried cases in places where court clerks and judges refused to address him by name but often called him “boy,” and urged his city, state and nation to expand opportunities for minority groups. His insistent voice was heard.
He became a high-profile spokesman of the civil rights movement. He became the first black appointed to a judgeship in Tennessee and was the first of his race to became a member of the Federal Communications Commission. Through it all, Mr. Hooks continued his ministry. Wherever he was and whatever his job, friends said, he insisted on preaching a sermon every Sunday.
Mr. Hooks took the helm of the NAACP in 1977 when the organization was floundering, searching for a mission in the wake of its successes in the civl rights battles of earlier years, and deep in debt. When he left in 1992, the NAACP had a renewed sense of purpose and a sounder financial footing. His time there was marked by internal and external disputes, but Mr. Hooks is properly credited with restoring the group to a position of national prominence.
Mr. Hooks’ death further thins the ranks of a generation of civil rights leaders whose vision and vigor helped make the United States a fairer and a better place. His life’s work was properly honored when President George W. Bush presented Mr. Hooks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At the time, Mr. Bush said, “He [Mr. Hooks] never tired or faltered in demanding that our nation live up to its founding ideals of liberty and equality.” That’s certainly a suitable epitaph for a remarkable Tennessean and American.