Innis, Roy

Innis, Roy (Roy Emile Alfredo Innis), 1934–2017, American civil-rights leader, b. St. Croix, Virgin Islands. A member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from 1963, he was its national director (1968–82) and national chairman (1970–2017). In the late 1960s he traded the integrationist agenda of the civil-rights movement for the ideology of black power and a revived black nationalism. He then turned to the right, supporting Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan for president, criticizing the politics of Jesse Jackson, and opposing affirmative action. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for a congressional seat in Brooklyn in 1986 and for New York City mayor in 1993. In 1996–98, Innis led teams that monitored elections in Nigeria.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Social Reformers