Robert Woodson, an American political activist, died on May 19, 2026, at the age of 89.
Born Robert Leon Woodson on April 8, 1937, in Philadelphia, he was a civil rights activist, community development leader, author and founder and president of the Woodson Center, a nonprofit research and demonstration organization supporting neighborhood-based initiatives to revitalize low-income communities. In February 2020, he launched the center’s 1776 Unites campaign to counter The 1619 Project.
Woodson dropped out of high school in 1954 to join the Air Force, later earned his GED, and went on to graduate from Cheyney University in 1962 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1965.
Robert Woodson, 89, American political activist.