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.

Retirement

Dr. Hooks and his wife handled the NAACP’s business and helped to plan for its future for more than 15 years. He told the New York Times that a “sense of duty and responsibility” to the NAACP compelled him to stay in office through the 1990s, but eventually the demands of the executive director position proved too great for a man of his age. In February of 1992, at the age of 67, he announced his resignation from the post, calling it “a killing job,” according to the Detroit Free Press. Hooks stated that he would serve out the 1992 year and predicted that a change in leadership would not jeopardize the NAACP’s stability: “We’ve been through some little stormy periods before. I think we’ll overcome it.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dr. Benjamin Hooks is currently serving as an distinguished adjunct professor for the Political Science department of the University of Memphis. He also resumed preaching at the Greater Middle Baptist Church in Memphis where he had begun preaching in 1956.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On March 24, 2001, Benjamin Lawson Hooks and Frances Dancy Hooks renewed their wedding vows for the third time, after nearly 50 years of marriage. The ceremony was held in the Greater Middle Baptist Church in Memphis .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~