Picture of the day

Walter White (1893–1955) was an American civil rights activist who led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for a quarter of a century, from 1929 until his death. He directed a broad program of legal challenges to racial segregation and disfranchisement. Under his leadership, the NAACP oversaw the plans and organizational structure of the fight against public segregation in the United States. He worked with President Harry S. Truman on desegregating the armed forces after World War II and gave him a draft of Executive Order 9981 to implement this. Under White's leadership, the NAACP set up its Legal Defense Fund, which conducted numerous legal challenges to segregation and disfranchisement, and achieved many successes. This photograph of White was taken by Clara Sipprell around 1950, and is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.Photograph credit: Clara Sipprell; restored by Adam Cuerden