Benjamin Jealous-current president and chief executive officer of the (NAACP)

Benjamin Todd Jealous (born January 18,1973) is the current president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

He is the youngest ever national leader of the organization.

Early life and Career

Jealous was born in Pacific Grove, California and grew up in Monterey Peninsula, California. He holds an B.A. in political science from Columbia University and a master's degree in comparative social research from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Jealous went to York School in Monterey for high school.

His mother, Ann Todd Jealous, is a retired psychotherapist from Baltimore, Maryland who participated in Western High School's desegregation. She is also the author, with Caroline Haskell of Combined Destinies: Whites Sharing Grief about Racism, released in April 2013.

His father, Fred Jealous, from New England, is the Founder and President of the Breakthrough Men's Community and participated in Baltimore sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters.

It was illegal for them to get married in Maryland until 1967; therefore the couple had to marry in Washington before returning to Baltimore.

Afterward, Jealous’ father was disowned by his white family from New England. Read More