Earl T. Shinhoster; Former Acting Executive Director of the NAACP

Earl T. Shinhoster, 47, who served as acting executive director of the NAACP in the mid-1990s. A resident of DeKalb, Ga., Shinhoster recently had served as director of the NAACP’s People’s Voter Empowerment project, a national voter registration and education program. He also had been involved in efforts to raise census participation among blacks. Active with the NAACP for 30 years, Shinhoster served in several senior positions including national field secretary. He stepped in as acting executive director and chief executive officer from February 1995 to February 1996. Shinhoster had worked as a coordinator for voter education in the Georgia secretary of state’s office and once was field director for the National Democratic Institute in the West African nation of Ghana, where he trained local citizens to serve as election monitors. Julian Bond, national chairman of the NAACP, said Shinhoster “literally devoted his life to the NAACP.” On Sunday in Montgomery, Ala., of injuries suffered in a car accident.