Religion, civil rights, law, politics and government are all categories that could have been chosen to highlight the lifespan of the Reverend Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks. He was chosen in the religion category because that is the foundation that truly makes him who he is - a giant among men. Hooks served as senior pastor of Middle Baptist Church in Memphis for more than 52 years and retired in December 2008. During the past five decades, he has served as a lawyer, pastor, civil rights activist, judge, FCC commissioner and businessman.
He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925, the fifth of seven children of Robert B. and Bessie Hooks. He was the product of a prominent family in the black community. His father owned a photography studio, and his grandmother was the second black woman in the United States to graduate from college – Berea College in Kentucky. Hooks studied pre-law at LeMoyne College and after serving in World War II graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. He earned his J.D. degree at DePaul University in Chicago.
Some of his outstanding achievements include: the first appointed African-American criminal court judge in Tennessee history (1965); first African-American appointee to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1972; and election as executive director of the NAACP, where he served from 1977 until 1993. He currently serves as a national member of the board of directors for the NAACP, grand master of the Masonic Lodge of Tennessee, supreme chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, chairman of the board of directors of the National Civil Rights Museum, president of the Children’s Health Forum, director of the Tri-State Bank and director/founder of The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. He also serves as an attorney for Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs law firm.
Hooks has been the recipient of many prestigious awards. In November 2007, President George W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor for a lifetime of service to the cause of equality. He and his wife, Frances, are the parents of one daughter, Patricia Hooks Gray, and have two grandsons and six great-grandchildren.
