Mary White Ovington (1865-1951) wasa co-founder of the NAACP and a journalist.
She was the daughter of progressive white parents. Her involvement with social justice issues was sparked by a Frederick Douglass speech she attended.
Ovington helped to create the Greenpoint Settlement in Brooklyn and led it for a decade. Her next job was as a fellow of the Greenwich House Committee on Social Investigations which studied employment and housing problems of African-Americans.
She wrote for several liberal publications, and would go on to publish several academic books and an anthology for children.
In 1909, Ovington helped spark the movement that led to the formation of the National Negro Committee. At the Committee's second conference in 1910, the NAACP was organized and Ovington became its executive secretary.
Ovington was active with the NAACP for the next 38 years and was an outspoken advocate for racial justice. She served on the Board until 1947. She died in 1951.--Heidi Durrow
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Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience. Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading. And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. Copyright 2014.
