Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr. is an African American civil rights leader born on January 22, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina. In his youth, Dr. Chavis was an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement. At the age of 24, Dr. Chavis rose to international prominence as the leader of the Wilmington Ten. After the conviction of the entire group that would be overturned on appeal, Dr. Chavis received a sentence of 34 years in prison. Along with the other members of the Wilmington Ten, Dr. Chavis walked to his freedom in 1980 after the federal appeals court overturned the convictions and cited "prosecutorial misconduct." Upon his release from prison, Dr. Chavis returned to the field of civil rights, and he became a Vice President of the National Council of Churches. The board of the NAACP elected Dr. Chavis as the Executive Director of America's oldest civil rights organization. Dr. Chavis later served as the National Director of the Million Man March, and the Founder and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit. Since 2001, Dr. 

January 22nd, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina (Age 76)