Roy Wilkins 1901-1981 Civil rights leader and journalist Roy Wilkins lived here from 1952 to 1981. A chief advocate of the Constitutional process in the civil rights movement, he helped plan the 1963 March on Washington, and worked the passage of Voting Rights Act (1955), the Civil Rights Act (1964), and the Fair Housing Act (1968). His name was synonymous with the NAACP- he served the organization for 46 years as assistant secretary, editor of the Crisis magazine, and finally executive director.