Arthur Barnette Spingarn (March 28, 1878–December 1, 1971) was an American leader in the fight for

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 ...

for

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Early life

He was born into a well-to-do

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. His older brother was the educator

Joel Elias Spingarn Joel Elias Spingarn (May 17, 1875 – July 26, 1939) was an American educator, literary critic, civil rights activist, military intelligence officer, and horticulturalist. Biography Spingarn was born in New York City to an upper middle-class ...

, and his nephew was Federal Trade Commission Commissioner

Stephen J. Spingarn Stephen J. Spingarn (September 1, 1908 – August 6, 1984) was a mid-20th-century American lawyer and civil servant in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and (briefly) Dwight D. Eisenhower administrations, including Special Counsel ( ...

. He graduated from

Columbia College Columbia College may refer to one of several institutions of higher education in North America: Canada * Columbia College (Alberta), in Calgary * Columbia College (British Columbia), a two-year liberal arts institution in Vancouver * Columbia In ...

in 1897 and from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked ...

in 1899.

Career

Spingarn was one of the few

White Americans White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represente ...

who decided in the 1900s decade to support the radical demands for racial justice being voiced by W. E. B. Du Bois, in contrast to the gradualist views of Booker T. Washington. He served as head of the legal committee 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) and was one of its vice presidents from 1911. He interrupted his legal career to serve for several years as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the Sanitary Corps during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and protested

racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain ...

treatment of African Americans in the

US military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

. He was very interested in furthering the cause of civil rights and improving the condition of black Americans. He succeeded his brother, Joel, as president of the NAACP in 1940 when the legal arm of the organization was spun off into the

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

and served as the NAACP's president until 1965.

Collector

Spingarn avidly amassed collections. One of them was of books, newspapers, and manuscripts on the black American experience worldwide that was "unique in its depth, breadth, and quality." He sold it to

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

, where it was incorporated into the renamed Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, the largest and most valuable research library in America for the study of black life and history. His other collections were sold at auction in 1966.

Death and legacy

He died at home in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

on December 1, 1971. At his memorial service, he was eulogized by Associate Supreme Court Justice

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- ...

and

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 ...

, executive director of the NAACP. Buell C. Gallagher, retired president of the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, called him "the rallying center of the aggressive forward movement" of the NAACP.

Works

* ''Laws Relating to Sex Morality in New York City'' (1915, revised 1926) * ''Legal and Protective Measures'' (1950), co-authored with Jacob A. Goldberg

Notes

Sources

*''New York Times''
Farnsworth Fowle, "Arthur Spingarn of N.A.A.C.P. Is Dead"
December 2, 1971 * Francis H Thompson, ''Arthur Barnett Spingarn: Advocate for Black Rights'' (1987) * Patricia Sullivan, ''Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement'' (2009)

External links

Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spingarn, Arthur B. Activists for African-American civil rights Columbia College (New York) alumni 1878 births 1971 deaths American Jews Columbia Law School alumni NAACP activists United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War I American book and manuscript collectors