PERSON: Nelson Linder

NAACP

President, Austin Chapter

Nelson Linder was born in Macon, Georgia in 1958. Linder entered the U.S. Army in 1976 and earned an honorable discharge. He graduated from the Army Signal Corp at Fort Gordon, Georgia. His great grandfather (George Linder) was a pivotal figure in the period of reconstruction in Dublin, Georgia. Linder arrived in Austin, Texas in 1981 and graduated from Huston-Tillotson University in 1984 with a B. A. Degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations. In 1985, he opened the first Corporate Insurance Office in Northeast Austin with Allstate Insurance and served that area until 1992. Since 1992, he has been an independent insurance agent serving the entire Austin area. In 1992, Linder founded the controversial Garvey/Allen/Washington Project, an organization that combined the philosophies of Marcus Garvey, Richard Allen,Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois. That organization primarily focused on self-empowerment and Social Justice for African Americans. That group also emphasized the importance of coalition building with other Black organizations and like-minded people of any ethnicity. In the year 2000, Linder was elected as the President of the Austin, Texas Branch of the NAACP. Linder has been interviewed on CNN, BET, the Washington Post, and has appeared on local television over 95 times on issues ranging from police brutality to housing discrimination. He has also worked extensively on educational equity and economic empowerment. He is currently working on his first book, an instructive manual, titled THE EMPOWERMENT MODE AND THE PRICE OF NONCONFORMANCE. Linder has also been covered in the Houston Chronicle and Texas News Cable Network. In 2006, Linder joined Austin Community Radio Station KAZI as a host of the Tuesday’s edition of the Wake up Call (Empowerment Mode) the program focuses on solutions to problems faced by African Americans. He has compared his work to a crusade and has written a position paper called“UNFINISHED BUSINESS” that is dedicated to continuing the pioneering work of the Civil Rights Movement, with a special emphasis on improving the quality of life for African American people

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