Civil rights leader Benjamin L. Hooks dies at age 85
April 16th, 2010 - 12:14 am ICT by Aishwarya BhattNashville, Apr 15 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Civil rights leader Benjamin L. Hooks has died. He was 85 years old. His death was confirmed by State Rep. Ulysses Jones, who disclosed that Hooks died after a long illness, at his Memphis abode.
When Benjamin Hooks became the executive director of the NAACP in 1977, then the group was in dire straits. Then the group had a huge debt of $1 million, and the membership of the group was at an all-time low of 200,000. The membership had reduced drastically from the 1950’s and 1960’s, when it was around half-a-million. When he took over the NAACP, then he said that he would increase the membership of the organization, and also raise funds for the development of NAACP.
“Black Americans are not defeated. The civil rights movement is not dead. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop litigating, they had better close the courts. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks,” he had said after he took over the NAACP.
Under his able leadership, the group prospered and when he subsequently left it in 1992, then the membership had increased by leaps and bounds.
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Tags: 1 million, abode, benjamin hooks, black americans, civil rights leader, civil rights movement, dire straits, executive director, half a million, leadership, leaps and bounds, memphis, naacp, nashville, sidewalks, state rep, ulysses
