What do you think?
Rate this book
Standing Fast: The Autobiography Of Roy Wilkins
History will remember Roy Wilkins (1901–1981) as one of the great leaders of the twentieth century for his contributions to the advancement of civil rights in America. For nearly half a century—first as assistant secretary, also succeeding W. E. B. Dubois as editor of The Crisis, and finally succeeding Walter White as executive director—Roy Wilkins served and led the N.A.A.C.P. in their fight for justice for African Americans. Wilkins was a relentless pragmatist who advocated progressive change through legal action. He participated or led in the achievement of every major civil rights advance, working for the integration of the army, helping to plan and organize the historic march on Washington, and pushing every president from Franklin Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter to implement civil rights legislation. This is a dramatic story of one man's struggle for his people's rights, as well as a vivid recollection of the events and the people that have shaped modern black history.
384 pages, Paperback
First published October 2, 1984
73 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 26, 2025
Fascinating. Wilkins joined the NAACP in 1920s and lead it from the 50s thru the 70s. I've read a lot from the civil rights movement that was critical of him, but reading this connected a lot of dots for me. You can see how the NAACP built power, focusing on legal and political strategies, fueled by newspapers and local chapters. They pushed hard, especially in the 1950s...I'm used to thinking about what happened after Brown v. Board of Education (1954). That's when Wikipedia says the civil rights movement began. But I didn't realize that getting the Brown decision was a long and hard-fought campaign. Wilkins was baffled when people later criticized him for moving too slowly, because all they were arguing pre-1954 was "the time is NOW." But you can also see through the book how he calcified over time. The NAACP's great victories were so focused on the South that they were blind-sided when norther riots coincided with those victories. The NAACP was close to many presidents (and the second half of this book is a speedy history of each one), but the civil rights movement changed what was politically possible.
The hardest part in reading this was his adamant anti-communism. His criticisms of them in the 20s-40s are surely based in truth with how dogmatic and mechanical they could be. But he shits all over them for taking up the Scottsboro Boys case (1951) when the NAACP passed on it. He felt they were opportunists, but was he not as well? There's a lot to think about in that conflict. Wilkins was stauchly pro-American, writing repeatedly that black people only want what the constitution already promises them. But the Communists also did a lot to push people on race. Wilkins had the temperature of black people in a lot of cases and was treated as their representative to the federal government, but he could absolutely not relate to black people who wanted more than civil rights.
The main thing I learned, I think, is that race in the US today is shaped by the NAACP maybe more than any other group. Not because they wanted this as they are, per se, but because their political and legal strategies were full scale and often successful.
One note, he recounts the Montgomery Bus Boycott wrong. He says Parks was just tired that day, and over the next week, the NAACP turned it into a fight in spite of local leaders dragging their feet. A lot has come out on this, and the best book I've read is The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson. Parks was trained, the event was loosely planned, and the organizing began immediately--coordinated by a group of women. My bullshit detector didn't go off anywhere else in Wikins' book, but it certainly made me wonder if I missed something else. Granted, Gibson's book is also a memoir and prone to subjective remembering, but she was there in the middle of it.
This was a good read. Wilkins came up as a newspaperman and has a good writing style.
The hardest part in reading this was his adamant anti-communism. His criticisms of them in the 20s-40s are surely based in truth with how dogmatic and mechanical they could be. But he shits all over them for taking up the Scottsboro Boys case (1951) when the NAACP passed on it. He felt they were opportunists, but was he not as well? There's a lot to think about in that conflict. Wilkins was stauchly pro-American, writing repeatedly that black people only want what the constitution already promises them. But the Communists also did a lot to push people on race. Wilkins had the temperature of black people in a lot of cases and was treated as their representative to the federal government, but he could absolutely not relate to black people who wanted more than civil rights.
The main thing I learned, I think, is that race in the US today is shaped by the NAACP maybe more than any other group. Not because they wanted this as they are, per se, but because their political and legal strategies were full scale and often successful.
One note, he recounts the Montgomery Bus Boycott wrong. He says Parks was just tired that day, and over the next week, the NAACP turned it into a fight in spite of local leaders dragging their feet. A lot has come out on this, and the best book I've read is The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson. Parks was trained, the event was loosely planned, and the organizing began immediately--coordinated by a group of women. My bullshit detector didn't go off anywhere else in Wikins' book, but it certainly made me wonder if I missed something else. Granted, Gibson's book is also a memoir and prone to subjective remembering, but she was there in the middle of it.
This was a good read. Wilkins came up as a newspaperman and has a good writing style.
October 13, 2020
After the death of John Lewis, I became intrigued to learn about the other organizers of the March on Washington, 1963. I vaguely remembered that Roy Wilkins was one of the "Big Six", I have seen him in photographs and a few video clips, so I wanted to learn more about him. I purchased this autobiography from a 3rd party seller on Amazon, and it arrived looking practically brand new! And at a bargain.
Roy Wilkins was the Executive Secretary of the NAACP during the height of the civil rights movement, and was a member/organizer/chief strategist for approximately 50 years, starting in the 1920s all the way until the 1970s. He was born at the turn of the 20th century (1901) and died in 1981; Mr. Wilkins practically saw the entire span of 1900s America. Wilkins had several tragedies in his early life (his mother died when he was a small child and his aunt and uncle moved he and his 2 siblings to St. Paul, Minnesota) but he owes his solid foundation and strength to his Uncle Sam and Aunt Elizabeth Williams who raised him. He went on to college, got a job at a weekly black newspaper in Kansas City, and married his lovely wife Minnie in 1929. Mr. Wilkins saw that he could not be a mere spectator reporting the injustices of Black Americans - he was nudged to DO something about it.
As a young man, Wilkins brought the weekly newspaper up-to-date and brought in new readers. I read an article online that "The Call" (the name of the newspaper) had the 2nd best printing press in the US at that time. How extraordinary! A key lesson I gained from reading this autobiography is the fact that someone is ALWAYS watching you - and W.E.B. DuBois and Walter White from the NAACP in NYC took note of him and the work he was doing in Kansas City and extended a job offer to him in the early 1930s.
One can easily tell while reading this book that Roy Wilkins was a newspaperman through and through. Very cerebral, very meticulous and detail-oriented. Although he was known as a great orator, editor, columnist, and activist, his quiet demeanor, shyness (my perception), and tendency to be a loner/introverted are evident. Mr. Wilkins was extremely humble talking about himself and never put himself on a pedestal.
It's ironic that I just completed this book right before the election. Wilkins gives the reader a bird's eye view on how the 3 branches of government truly operate, and it takes forethought, careful planning, skill, organization and much more to achieve victory with any civil rights issue. We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Wilkins, Walter White, Thurgood Marshall, and Clarence Mitchell. While MLK, Jr., SNCC, CORE and other organizations were the "boots on the ground", the NAACP worked diligently and tirelessly behind the scenes in making sure pressure was put on Congress and the President to enact legislation. Mr. Wilkins outlines numerous cases from the 1920s to the 1960s where he and so many others fought for equal rights and justice for black Americans and for ALL Americans.
The strategies and lessons Mr. Wilkins lay out are still applicable in 2020. This is a fantastic playbook in a sense, in demonstrating how ALL moving parts (boots on the ground, national and local organizational leadership, and legal strategy) work together to achieve the common goal of civil rights.
All in all, I thought this was an excellent read. Roy Wilkins needs to be a household name and should be in the history books along with so many other great Americans.
Roy Wilkins was the Executive Secretary of the NAACP during the height of the civil rights movement, and was a member/organizer/chief strategist for approximately 50 years, starting in the 1920s all the way until the 1970s. He was born at the turn of the 20th century (1901) and died in 1981; Mr. Wilkins practically saw the entire span of 1900s America. Wilkins had several tragedies in his early life (his mother died when he was a small child and his aunt and uncle moved he and his 2 siblings to St. Paul, Minnesota) but he owes his solid foundation and strength to his Uncle Sam and Aunt Elizabeth Williams who raised him. He went on to college, got a job at a weekly black newspaper in Kansas City, and married his lovely wife Minnie in 1929. Mr. Wilkins saw that he could not be a mere spectator reporting the injustices of Black Americans - he was nudged to DO something about it.
As a young man, Wilkins brought the weekly newspaper up-to-date and brought in new readers. I read an article online that "The Call" (the name of the newspaper) had the 2nd best printing press in the US at that time. How extraordinary! A key lesson I gained from reading this autobiography is the fact that someone is ALWAYS watching you - and W.E.B. DuBois and Walter White from the NAACP in NYC took note of him and the work he was doing in Kansas City and extended a job offer to him in the early 1930s.
One can easily tell while reading this book that Roy Wilkins was a newspaperman through and through. Very cerebral, very meticulous and detail-oriented. Although he was known as a great orator, editor, columnist, and activist, his quiet demeanor, shyness (my perception), and tendency to be a loner/introverted are evident. Mr. Wilkins was extremely humble talking about himself and never put himself on a pedestal.
It's ironic that I just completed this book right before the election. Wilkins gives the reader a bird's eye view on how the 3 branches of government truly operate, and it takes forethought, careful planning, skill, organization and much more to achieve victory with any civil rights issue. We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Wilkins, Walter White, Thurgood Marshall, and Clarence Mitchell. While MLK, Jr., SNCC, CORE and other organizations were the "boots on the ground", the NAACP worked diligently and tirelessly behind the scenes in making sure pressure was put on Congress and the President to enact legislation. Mr. Wilkins outlines numerous cases from the 1920s to the 1960s where he and so many others fought for equal rights and justice for black Americans and for ALL Americans.
The strategies and lessons Mr. Wilkins lay out are still applicable in 2020. This is a fantastic playbook in a sense, in demonstrating how ALL moving parts (boots on the ground, national and local organizational leadership, and legal strategy) work together to achieve the common goal of civil rights.
All in all, I thought this was an excellent read. Roy Wilkins needs to be a household name and should be in the history books along with so many other great Americans.
April 1, 2022
When I began this book as a study book with a friend with whom I've been studying racial history, I never imagined I could learn so much from an autobiography. After reading this book, I have so much respect for Roy Wilkins and the NAACP.
May 24, 2013
I had to do a project on Roy Wilkins, and I needed to get some information on him. I borrowed this book from the library for a few days. I didn't read the whole entire book, just some of it. But still, it gave me enough information to do my project and get a good grade on it! It tells about his whole life in great detail. If you need some information on Roy Wilkins, I would recommend this book for you.
January 3, 2012
My roots are deep Roy Wilkins Was my hero.
July 27, 2014
im loving it so far - excellent book...
August 13, 2013
Excellent!
Read
August 28, 2013Inspiring
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews