The Resume

(July 31, 1921-March 11, 1971)
Born in Shelby County, Kentucky
Civil rights activist
Executive director of the National Urban League (1961-71)
Wrote 'To Be Equal' (1964) and 'Beyond Racism' (1969)
Received the Presidential Medal Freedom (1969)
Drowned while swimming in Lagos, Nigeria, where he was attending an African-American Institute conference

Why he might be annoying:

He advocated preferential treatment for blacks in employment.
Black Power leaders considered him an Uncle Tom.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom he received from Lyndon Johnson may have had as much to do with his public support for the Vietnam War as his civil rights work.
He started speaking out against the Vietnam War only after LBJ was out of office.

Why he might not be annoying:

He graduated from the Lincoln Institute as valedictorian.
He said he got his start in race relations during WWII when he was promoted to sergeant and mediated between white officers and black soldiers to improve conditions in the unit.
He negotiated with scores of businesses to end discriminatory hiring practices.
He said about the criticism by radicals, 'I think to myself, should I get off this train and stand on 125th Street cussing out Whitey to show I am tough? Or should I go downtown and talk to an executive of General Motors about 2,000 jobs for unemployed Negroes?'
President Richard Nixon sent a plane to Nigeria to bring his body home and delivered the eulogy at his funeral, saying 'He knew how to accomplish what other people were merely for.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
• Black Heritage Commemorative Stamp Series (Ranked: 1981)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 32]
• Civil Rights Activists
• Gil Scott-Heron's 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' References
• I am a Kentuckian
• I am on a U.S. Postage Stamp [U-Z]
• I Attended MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• I Attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom [August 28, 1963]
• I Attended University of Minnesota
• I Died by Drowning
• I Died in 1971 (Ranked: 49)
• I'm Buried at Ferncliff Cemetery [Hartsdale, NY]
• Look at Me, I'm Reading
• Profiles 30001-30250 (Ranked: 30179)
• Served in World War II
• U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
• Valedictorians
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 19710311)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 44 Votes: 77.27% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 14 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 21 Votes: 80.95% Annoying