Walter White, Mr. NAACP Kenneth Robert Janken Discusses New Biography

摘要

Kenneth Robert Janken, author of "White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. NAACP," told an audience at the Library on Feb. 25 that the accomplishments of Walter White from the 1920s to the 1950s in the fields of civil rights, politics and black culture, though long forgotten, are well worth remembering. White stemmed the epidemic of mob murders and lynchings, guided the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) into prominence, helped to launch the Harlem Renaissance, and participated in the many legal campaigns against segregation, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Janken, associate professor of Afro-American studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, used the Library's NAACP records in the Manuscript Division as a major resource for the book, which is the first biography of White. Janken's presentation was part of the Center for the Book's Books & Beyond series of talks that highlight new books based on the Library's collections and programs.