Roger Wood Wilkins (January 29, 1932 – March 26, 2017) was an American lawyer,

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

leader, professor of history, and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

who served as the 15th United States

Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general. The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...

under President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

from 1966 to 1969. A member of the

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Wilkins was mentored by

Associate Justice Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some sta ...

of the Supreme Court

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

early in his career. Throughout the 1960's, Wilkins campaigned for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Wilkins to be the administration's chief troubleshooter on urban racial issues, and later became assistant attorney general under the Johnson administration. Wilkins' uncle,

Roy Wilkins Roy Ottoway Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent activist in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was his leadership of the National Association for the ...

, was the former executive director of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

(NAACP) from 1964 to 1977.

Biography

Wilkins was born in Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, on January 29, 1932, and grew up in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. He was educated at

Crispus Attucks Elementary School Kansas City 33 School District, operating as Kansas City Public Schools or KCPS (formerly Kansas City, Missouri School District, or KCMSD), is a school district headquartered at 2901 Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The dis ...

in Kansas City, Missouri, then Creston High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Wilkins received his A.B. degree in 1953 and J.D. degree in 1956, both from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where he interned with the NAACP and was a member of the senior leadership society,

Michigamua The Order of Angell, known for decades as Michigamua, was a senior honorary society recognizing student leaders and outstanding athletes at the University of Michigan. For most of its history, its practices reflected images of Native Americans d ...

Career

Wilkins worked as a welfare lawyer in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

before becoming an

in President

's administration at age 33, one of the highest-ranking Black Americans ever to serve in the executive branch up to that time. Roger Wilkins was sworn in as Director of the federal

Community Relations Service The Community Relations Service (CRS) is part of the United States Department of Justice. The office is intended to act as a peacemaker "for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color, national origin, gender, gender id ...

on Friday, February 4, 1966, in a ceremony at The White House. Leaving government in 1969 at the end of the Johnson administration, he worked briefly for the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

before joining the editorial staff of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. Along with

Carl Bernstein Carl Milton Bernstein ( ; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. While a young reporter for ''The Washington Post'' in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward, and the two did much of the original n ...

, Herbert Block ("Herblock"), and

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for '' The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingt ...

, Wilkins earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for exposing the Watergate scandal that eventually forced President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

's resignation from office. He left the ''Post'' in 1974 to work for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', followed five years later by a brief stay at the now-defunct ''

Washington Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Sta ...

''. In 1980, he became a radio news commentator, working for

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

(NPR). Wilkins was the Robinson Professor of History and American Culture at George Mason University in

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

until his retirement in 2007. During his tenure at George Mason, Wilkins was, arguably, one of the most preeminent professors in residence at that time. Wilkins was also the publisher of the NAACP's journal, ''

The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...

'', and was the nephew of

, a past executive director of the NAACP. Wilkins resided in Washington, D.C., and was married to Patricia King, Professor of Law at Georgetown University. Wilkins died on March 26, 2017, in Kensington, Maryland from complications of dementia. He was 85.

Bibliography

* ''A Man's Life: An Autobiography''. 1982, reprinted 1991. New York:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

. . * ''Quiet Riots: Race and Poverty in the United States''. Edited by Wilkins and Fred Harris. 1998. New York: Pantheon Books. . * ''Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism''. 2001. Boston: Beacon Press. .

References

External links

*
''Booknotes'' interview with Wilkins on ''Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism'', August 12, 2001.Tell Me More interview aired Feb 17, 2011
at George Mason University
1989 Roger Wilkins interview on racism in the U.S.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Roger 1932 births 2017 deaths Ohio lawyers African-American historians 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians of the United States American newspaper reporters and correspondents American broadcast news analysts American radio journalists United States Assistant Attorneys General African-American memoirists Lyndon B. Johnson administration personnel University of Michigan alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni George Mason University faculty Pulitzer Prize winners American memoirists Journalists from Missouri Journalists from Michigan Historians from Missouri Historians from Michigan Activists for African-American civil rights 20th-century American lawyers American autobiographers African-American lawyers American male biographers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Writers from Kansas City, Missouri