Joel Elias Spingarn (May 17,1875 - July 26,1939) was an American educator and literary critic.

Spingarn was born in New York City. He was professor of comparative literature at Columbia University from 1899 to 1911. In 1919 he was a co-founder of the publishing firm of Harcourt, Brace and Company.

Spingarn was an influential liberal who helped settle a dispute between W.E.B. DuBois, whom he'd known at Harvard, and the followers of Booker T. Washington, and helped ultimately realize the concept of a unified black movement through the founding of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Spingarn was one of the first Jewish leaders of the NAACP, its second president, and chairman of its board from 1913 until his death.

In 1913 he established the Spingarn medal, awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African American. He encouraged the works of African American writers during the Harlem Renaissance, a period of intense black literary activity in the 1920s.

Spingarn spoke rallying words ("I have a dream...of a unified Negro population.") presaging those given by Martin Luther King Jr in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington.

Spingarn Senior High School in Washington, D.C. is named for him.

References

• Columbia Encyclopedia bio
• NNDB bio
• New York Botanical Garden bio

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