The executive director of the Virginia State Conference NAACP has abruptly quit after 14 months.

Da’Quan M. Love left behind a blistering resignation letter accusing members of the state NAACP board of creating overly stressful conditions that were ruining his health.

The Free Press obtained a copy of the Feb. 9 letter that Mr. Love wrote that paints a picture of a state board for the civil rights group that treats its employees with disdain, but also reflects an internal dispute between him and the board over his role. As reflected in his letter, he bridled over the board’s tight control and its insistence that he remain in the background, with public statements to come from and press releases to be issued by the state NAACP president or designated elected officers.

The current president, Robert N. Barnette Jr., called Mr. Love’s resignation a personnel matter and declined to comment on the allegations that Mr. Love leveled.

The sixth and youngest administrative leader of the 85-year-old group, Mr. Love took charge of the state NAACP office in December 2020. Since then, he noted that he had ushered in improvements to the office’s operations and increased financial support.

However, the 29-year-old Henrico resident stated he did so even as board members subjected him and his small staff to what he described as “verbal abuse, bullying, physical and other forms of harassment, gaslighting, and other forms of manipulation” that he said undermined his health and repeatedly sent him to the hospital.

He cited as one example the actions of Cynthia Downs-Taylor, chair of the state NAACP’s Personnel Committee, who was hired last April to be a senior adviser to U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner. Ms. Downs-Taylor, who is now based in the Richmond area, has a long track record of service to the state organization and was honored with a lifetime achievement award in late 2019 from the Newport News Branch NAACP.

According to Mr. Love, while he was out on medical leave, Ms. Downs-Taylor’s committee subjected him to a “sham annual performance evaluation despite the objections of President Barnette.”

In what appears to have been the final straw for Mr. Love, he recounted the actions of Ms. Downs-Taylor after he notified Mr. Barnette that he was going to the emergency room for treatment and would not be in the office.

According to Mr. Love, the personnel committee chair sent him an angry email “demanding that I contact them immediately” and upbraided him for notifying the president rather than herself.

Then, Mr. Love stated, Ms. Downs-Taylor rushed to the state NAACP office just off the campus of Virginia Union University and began “demanding keys and financial banking information from our staff before proceeding to physically remove them from the office while threatening to call the police.”

Alden Vaughan, who had served as an administrative assistant in the state NAACP office since 2015, could not be reached for comment. Mary Easter, a retired 45-year veteran of the state office who continued to help out two days a week, also was not immediately available for comment.

Ms. Downs-Taylor did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Mr. Love, her actions “show the lengths to which some executive committee members will go to exert power and control over the most minute issue.”

Carmen Taylor, a former state NAACP president who currently serves on the national NAACP board, called Mr. Love’s allegations “hearsay.”

In response to a Free Press email asking for comment, Ms. Taylor wrote that she could not comment on personnel matters. She added, “Ms. Downs-Taylor has been a stalwart member of the (NAACP) for many years and has an impeccable civil rights background who should not be subjected to hearsay.”

Mr. Love also stated that a majority of the executive board rejected a record $300,000 donation he had spent 10 months cultivating because “they wanted to micromanage the executive director and insisted on pre-approving all fundraising solicitations.”

At this point, the office apparently is unstaffed. An interim executive director has not been named, Mr. Barnette stated in an email.

Though he complained of being micromanaged, Mr. Love sought to underline his concerns about his limited role by attaching to his letter the resignation letter of the late Jack W. Gravely, who stepped down as interim executive director in July 2016.

Mr. Gravely cited his concern that he was being muzzled and no longer was being allowed to speak for the organization as had been the case during his first stint as executive director from 1976 to 1984.

In his resignation letter, Mr. Gravely also alleged that a former state NAACP president, Linda Thomas, directly interfered with his operation of the office and tied him up with hours-long phone calls of complaint that made it impossible for him to do his job.

Ms. Thomas also did not respond to a request for comment.

Former members of the state NAACP board, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Free Press that Mr. Love’s letter reveals publicly what has been known to insiders. As one former member put it, “It’s horror story after horror story that many of us have experienced.”

Mr. Love wrote that he had mixed emotions about moving on: “I am sad because I earnestly love and enjoy the work.”

In his view, he made a difference. “Not only did we improve administrative operations, but we drastically expanded the scope and reach of our programmatic efforts.”

He stated that during his first year, he created the group’s first endowment, replaced old computers and telephones and installed wireless internet in the office. He stated he also created new giving approaches, including the celebration of “Juneteenth in the Commonwealth” and digital and mail fundraising “without which we would not have been able to stay in the black last year.”

Previously active in North Carolina politics, Mr. Love stated, “I was recruited and hired to help elevate the public profile of the state NAACP and to raise much-needed funds. Irrefutably, I have done so, and I have done it well” even “while being stressed to the point of hospitalization.”

“Clearly, I am not valued or appreciated by the Virginia State Conference,” he concluded. “I sincerely do not want to resign, but I don’t see any changes happening anytime soon to solve the issues of micromanagement, unrealistic expectations, and continued harassment.”