The NAACP is saddened by the passing of United States Senator Robert Byrd . Byrd , the longest serving member of congress was first elected to the U . S . House from West Virginia in 1952 and was elected Senator in 1958 . Byrd passed away this morning at the age of 92 . Senator Byrd reflects the transformative power of this nation , stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous . Senator Byrd went from being an active member of the KKK to a being a stalwart supporter of the Civil Rights Act , the Voting Rights Act and many other pieces of seminal legislation that advanced the civil rights and liberties of our country . Senator Byrd came to consistently support the NAACP civil rights agenda , doing well on the NAACP Annual Civil Rights Report Card . He stood with us on many issues of crucial importance to our members from the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act , the historic health care legislation of 2010 and his support for the Hate Crimes Prevention legislation , stated Hilary O . Shelton , Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy . Senator Byrd was a master of the Senate Rules , and helped strategize passage of legislation that helped millions of Americans . He will be sorely missed . NAACP ' s Statement about Sen . Byrd ' s PassingAfter about a year , I became disinterested in the KKK , quit paying my dues , and dropped my membership in the organization . I know now I was wrong . Intolerance had no place in America . I apologized a thousand times . and I don ' t mind apologizing over and over again . I can ' t erase what happened . Sen Byrd about his participation with the KKK . So not only is your i ' ll leave this here incredibly stupid and irrelevant because Senator Byrd has long been a champion for civil rights and the first picture is OBVIOUSLY shopped , but it ' s incredibly disingenuous to the real facts of the situation what a surprise . edit some formatting