Today in 1901: Civil rights leader Roy Wilkins is born. He wore this National Association for the Advancement of Colored People cap during the 1963 March on Washington.

Under his leadership in the 1950s and 1960s, the NAACP spearheaded the court challenges and legislative initiatives that helped bring an end to segregation. Wilkins was the principal architect of the legal strategy that led to the historic 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public schools. His tireless lobbying in support of key civil rights measures also played a vital role in securing congressional passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.