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What's behind the biggest upheaval ever in black leadership?

Ebony, April, 2005 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

WE are witnessing an unprecedented changing of the guard in Black American leadership, and many followers are wondering what's going on, and where do we go from here. Within the last two years, five of Black America's top civil rights and advocacy organizations--the NAACP, the National Urban League, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)--have named new executives or are looking for a new leader.

Some historians and other political observers note that this is perhaps the biggest upheaval in Black leadership structures ever. And while most of the Black leaders interviewed for this story agree that the leadership helm changes are dramatic, there is no need for alarm.

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It was perhaps the November 2004 departure of Kweisi Mfume from the NAACP that really put the spotlight on the number of changes at the top. His decision to step down also has pressed the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization into a national search for a president. NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond says the organization is conducting a search and hopes to have someone on board when the organization's convention begins in July in Milwaukee.

Bond notes that the numerous leadership changes have been orderly. "Whenever there is a change, you want the next person to be the best possible person. I think this change is sort of ordinary," he says. "People leave. People come and people go. I wouldn't call it an upheaval."

National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial was elected to this post in 2003, taking over from Hugh B. Price, who led the organization for nine years. Morial agrees that the turnover rate is unprecedented.

"Probably for the titular civil rights organizations, it's unique to have this turnover in the same two-year window." Traditionally, he says, leadership in these organizations remained the same for 20 years or more, but in this modern age, leaders won't remain at the helm that long. "It's a healthy passing of the torch that people don't sit in these positions forever," he adds. "And there's something to be said about people being fresh and energetic and having a sense of hope and optimism, which I think is what it takes to be successful in these leadership positions."

Dr. Michael Lomax, president and CEO, United Negro College Fund (UNCF), took the UNCF helm in 2004 after the retirement of William H. Gray III, who led the UNCF for 12 years. Lomax, a former president of Dillard University, says the changes have been "careful and deliberative in ensuring seamless transitions. I don't see any need for concern."

Theodore M. Shaw, director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, agrees--even though he says during his lifetime there has not been this much rapid change in leadership in Black organizations. "One of my personal mottos is 'change is growth' for institutions and for individuals," he says. "I think it's a sign of institutional suicide when people stay in positions forever and don't bring another generation in. I know for myself personally, when I've given this job what I can give, and when it's time for me to pass the baton to somebody else, that will be one of the most important decisions I can make."

Shaw is only the fifth person to head the organization since it was established in 1940 under Thurgood Marshall. He took over last year following the departure of Elaine R. Jones, who retired after 11 years in the post and 32 years with the organization.

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, says what we are seeing is "a continuum within the organization," with leaders changing as the struggle continues. "The base of our leadership has gotten much broader," he says.

Morial concurs with Jackson, adding, "I think that organizational leadership has broadened significantly. It's not only those of us who lead civil rights organizations, but it's a broad range of people who lead a whole range of new organizations, and we also have an increasing broadening of the number of African-American elected officials."

Some activists continue to suggest that Sisters need to be more seriously considered for major leadership posts. NAACP Chairman Bond agrees, but points out that there are now many more Black female leaders. "It used to be that when you thought about women leaders, you thought only about Mrs. [Mary McLeod] Bethune and Dorothy Height," Bond says. "There are many, many more women in the mix now."

The good news, Jackson says, is there are more Black representatives in Congress than ever before. "At one time it was just the NAACP, and there were no Black elected officials at all. The SCLC has a new leader, but it's still the same organization," Jackson says.

Charles Steele Jr., recently appointed national president of the SCLC, says the changes are part of a natural "paradigm shift." The venerable civil rights organization--co-founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.--was catapulted into a national controversy after two consecutive presidents resigned in as many years, one being Martin Luther King III. "This is a new day and a new way," Steele says of the organization, pointing out that more than half of the population in this country was born after King's 1968 assassination. "It's a new world order."

What's behind the biggest upheaval ever in black leadership?

Ebony, April, 2005 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

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