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Mary White Ovington
1865–1951
A fearless reformer and writer, she helped found the NAACP and spent decades fighting for racial justice, women's rights, and social reform. Her life linked progressive politics, journalism, and hands-on activism at a crucial moment in American history.
4 Audiobooks
Half a Man: The Status of the Negro in New York
by Mary White Ovington
The Shadow
by Mary White Ovington
How the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began
by Mary White Ovington
Hazel
by Mary White Ovington
About the author
Born in Brooklyn in 1865, Mary White Ovington grew up in a family shaped by abolitionism and women's rights. She became a journalist and social worker, and her experiences investigating poverty and segregation pushed her toward a lifelong commitment to civil rights.
She is best known as one of the principal founders of the NAACP in 1909. Working alongside figures including W. E. B. Du Bois, she helped build the organization in its early years and remained deeply involved for decades, serving in key leadership roles and supporting campaigns against racial discrimination and violence.
Ovington was also a socialist and a supporter of women's suffrage, and her writing reflected her belief that social justice struggles were connected. She died in 1951, but she is still remembered as one of the most important white allies in the early fight for Black civil rights in the United States.