Moorfield Storey

About

Remembered as the first president of the NAACP, this activist and attorney held office from 1909 until 1929 and also edited the American Law Review and headed the American Bar Association. Ahead of his time, he advocated for the rights of African Americans, immigrants, and Native Americans.

Before Fame

After graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he clerked for the U.S. Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations and went on to establish a successful Boston law practice.

Trivia

At the turn of the twentieth century, running as an independent, he launched an unsuccessful U.S. Congressional campaign. He was instrumental in overturning a Kentucky segregation law in the 1917 Supreme Court case Buchanan v. Warley.

Family Life

He spent his life in Roxbury, Boston, and Lincoln, Massachusetts. His marriage to Gertrude Cutts produced five children.

Associated With

In 1884, he joined the Mugwumps movement in voicing his support for Grover Cleveland over James G. Blaine in that year's presidential election.