1. Rupert Florence Richardson was an American civil rights activist and civil rights leader who served as the national president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1992 to 1995, and as the national president emeritus of the NAACP following her term as president.
Rupert Richardson worked in the Louisiana state government for 30 years.
Rupert Florence Richardson was born on January 14,1930, in Navasota, Texas, to Albert S Richardson and Mary Samuels Richardson.
Rupert Richardson was raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where her family moved to shortly after her birth, and attended public schools there.
In 1952 Richardson received a Bachelor of Science from Southern University, becoming a second-generation college graduate after her mother.
In 1962, ten years after graduating from Southern University, Rupert Richardson graduated from McNeese State University with a Master of Counselling and Master of Psychology.
In 1965 Rupert Richardson found employment as a counselor in the Louisiana Department of Labor.
Rupert Richardson eventually became deputy assistant secretary of the department.
From 1992 to 1994, Rupert Richardson was deputy assistant secretary of state at the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
Rupert Richardson served on several boards for the state, which included the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, Louisiana Commission on Human Rights, Louisiana Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the Louisiana State University School of Social Welfare Advisory Committee, and the Governor's Council for Drug-Free Schools.
Rupert Richardson first joined the NAACP as a teenager in the 1940s, working in the anti-lynching movement and against racial segregation.
Rupert Richardson rose to become president of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP for sixteen years.
Rupert Richardson was active in the NAACP's national governance, serving on the NAACP board from 1981 to her death, as the NAACP vice president from 1984 to 1991, and as the president of the NAACP from 1992 to 1995.
Rupert Richardson created partnerships with groups such as the Harvard Business School.
Towards the end of her life, Rupert Richardson remained active in civil rights, advocating on behalf of the Jena Six in 2006 and 2007.
Rupert Richardson was known as the "grand dame" of the organization; Julian Bond, an activist at the NAACP, said that "Rupert Richardson was in many ways the conscience of the NAACP".
Rupert Richardson's body lay in state at the Old Louisiana State Capitol.