Benjamin Hooks

Dr. Benjamin Lawson Hooks (b. 1925), is an American civil rights leader. A Baptist minister and practicing attorney, he served as executive director of the NAACP for from 1977 to 1992, and throughout his career has been a vocal campaigner for civil rights in the United States.

Education

Benjamin enrolled in Le Moyne College, a Jesuit university in Syracuse, New York. There he undertook a pre-law course of study 1941–43. In his college years he became more acutely aware that he was one a large number of Americans who were required to use segregated lunch counters, water fountains, and restrooms. “I wish I could tell you every time I was on the highway and couldn’t use a restroom,” he told U.S. News & World Report in an interview. “My bladder is messed up because of that. Stomach is messed up from eating cold sandwiches.”

Related Topics:
Le Moyne College - Jesuit - Syracuse, New York - U.S. News & World Report

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In 1943, he transferred to Howard University and graduated in 1944. He joined the Army after graduation and had the job of guarding Italian prisoners of war. He found it humiliating that the prisoners were allowed to eat in restaurants from which he was barred. He was discharged from the Army after the end of the war with the rank of staff sergeant.

Related Topics:
1943 - Howard University - 1944

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After the war he enrolled at DePaul University to study law. No law school in his native Tennessee would admit him. He graduated from DePaul in 1948 with his J.D. (law) degree.

Related Topics:
DePaul University - J.D.

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