Since his unsuccessful run for Maryland governor against Larry Hogan in 2018, Benjamin Todd Jealous, former president of the NAACP, has kept up the pace he established as a scholar, activist and entrepreneur before trying politics. He served as president of People for the American Way, has a professorship at the University of Pennsylvania and next month becomes executive director of the Sierra Club. Jealous, who lives in Anne Arundel County, turned 50 on Wednesday. His new book, “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free, A Parable of American Healing,” has just been published.
The title is taken from something Jealous’ maternal grandmother, Mamie Todd Bland, had said. The granddaughter of a slave who became a civil rights activist and social worker in Baltimore, she died last April at age 105. She seems in large part the inspiration for her grandson’s book.
My conversation with Ben Jealous took place by email and phone. The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
