Who was Walter Francis White, and why was he important to the Civil Rights movement in the United States?

Walter
Francis White's most significant contribution to Civil Rights for people of color in
Americanwould be his advocacy through the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP.)  White was able to use his position in the NAACP to advance specific policies
that made Civil Rights a cause that occupied national importance. 

A talented
student who graduated from Atlanta University, White began to establish an chapter of the NAACP
in Atlanta itself.  From an early point, White recognized that the group's advocacy was
essential in advancing the legal, social, and economic platform of African- Americans in a
nation where segregation was the law of the land.  Attracting the attention of James Weldon
Johnson, White was elevated to a national position in the organization.  As secretary assistant
of the NAACP, White was able to move the organization's focus onto issues such as lynchings.  He
was able to pass as White and this enabled him to work undercover within areas that were
restricted:   "I am a Negro. My skin is white, my eyes are blue, my hair is blond. The
traits of my race are nowhere visible upon me."  While White spoke out against segregation
and discrimination, he did not endorse the Nationalist position of a Marcus Garvey, and spoke
passionately about the need to work within American society in order to obtain freedom within
it.  White worked with President Truman to de-segregate the armed forces and helped to establish
the NAACP's legal defense fund that was able to support such litigation as Brown v.
Board of Education.

Walter Francis White's contribution to Civil
Rights was powerful.  In being able to give guidance to African- Americans who struggled with
what to do and how to live, he was able to play a formative role in the definition of millions
of African- Americans.  White recognized that the future of African- Americans existed in
working with the harsh contours of America, prompting change from within.  Through his advocacy
in the NAACP legal defense fund, it became clear that African- Americans could seek equality in
the legal system, as well.  Brown v. Board of Education was a milestone in
the Civil Rights movement, something that Walter Francis White made happen. Working within a
segregated America in order to facilitate an integrated one was a difficult path to blaze, and a
Black man named White played an incredibly bold role in doing so.

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