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Moorfield Storey 1845–1929
Moorfield Storey was a leading civil rights attorney and an outspoken opponent of U.S. military intervention overseas. He served as president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1905 until 1921 and as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1909 until 1929. He also advocated for the rights of Native Americans and successfully brought cases before the Supreme Court concerning voting rights, residential segregation, and the prevention of lynchings and mob intimidation in criminal cases.
Storey famously declared, "One of the greatest dangers which threatens this country today is racial prejudice and it should be the duty of every person with any influence to discourage it." Despite his serious purpose, Storey was not without humor, once joking that this charcoal portrait by Sargent might be considered "a fraud on the public, since it represents such an amiable old gentleman instead of a ferocious bruiser."
Charcoal on paper, 1917
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; partial gift of James Moorfield Storey
This is the National Portrait Gallery sign in the exhibit. |