Benjamin Hooks

Personal

Vocation

Family

American social activist, the Civil Rights Executive Director of the NAACP, 1977-1992. He was appointed by Richard Nixon to head the FCC in 1972, serving in that role until 1978 as the first African-American Commissioner. Hooks was one of seven kids who were raised with a sense of service in a disciplined upbringing and racial pride. His grandmother was the second black woman in the U.S. to graduate from college. He earned his law degree in 1948 and worked as a Savings & Loan officer, becoming a 33rd degree Mason. On 21 March 1952 he married Frances Dancy and they adopted a daughter. On 24 March 2001 Benjamin and Frances renewed their wedding vows for the third time, after nearly 50 years of marriage. With a high moral vision, Hooks always stated that the Church was his first love. It was not until he could overcome his stage fright of standing up in the pulpit that he was able to pursue his dream, and he was ordained a Baptist minister in Memphis, 1956 and served as a pastor until 1972. He made several unsuccessful bids to enter politics before 1965, when he was appointed the first criminal court judge in Tennessee. Hooks died of heart failure on 15 April 2010 at his Memphis, TN home. He was 85. Link to Wikipedia biography