“We’ll continue to move forward, we’ll continue to organize and we’ll continue to seek to recruit young people to carry on the work, ” said James E. “J.J.” Minor III president of the Richmond Branch NAACP.

That was his take on the unexpected ouster of Cornell W. Brooks, the national NAACP president and CEO since 2014.

Preparing for the civil rights organization’s national convention in July, the board of the Baltimore-based national NAACP announced last Friday that Mr. Brooks’ contract was not extended. The 56-year-old attorney will leave the post on June 30, when the contract expires.

Mr. Brooks was eager to continue leading the 300,000-member organization that operates on a $27 million annual budget.

He called the decision “baffling” after learning he is losing the leadership post of the venerable civil rights group that dates to 1909 and is working to maintain its relevance in the Trump era.

Despite a high-profile protest arrest, Mr. Brooks apparently was too low key for the board, which apparently wants someone more aggressive and outspoken and more in tune with liberal activists.

In a statement announcing the decision, the board promised a “transformational, systemwide refresh” in order to do more to challenge President Trump and the policies he is undertaking to rollback hard-won gains on various fronts, ranging from voting rights and public education to environmental justice.

During the search for a new leader, board Chairman Leon W. Russell and Vice Chairman Derrick Johnson will manage day-to-day operations, according to the announcement.

Mr. Russell, who has been a member of the board for 27 years, served as president of the Florida State Conference NAACP, while Mr. Johnson, who was elected national board vice chair in February, was state president of the Mississippi NAACP and executive director of One Voice Inc.

Mr. Johnson said officials will embark on a “national listening tour” to “push the needle forward on civil rights and social justice.”

Mr. Russell acknowledged that the outcome of the November 2016 presidential election, President Trump’s governance and fast-moving news cycles have required the 108-year-old organization to do some soul searching and end business as usual.

He said a spate of recent executive orders and the sweeping policy changes in President Trump’s new budget also were factors in the decision to seek a more aggressive leader.

Mr. Russell also cited U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ order to federal prosecutors to pursue the toughest charges and sentences against drug crime suspects, reversing efforts of the Obama administration to reduce penalties for some nonviolent drug offenses.

Mr. Russell said he also is worried about President Trump’s executive order to revive the coal industry and nullify President Obama’s work to combat climate change.

And he is concerned by efforts of Betsy DeVos, the U.S. secretary of education, to push for more school choice programs while cutting resources from public schools.

Virginia NAACP President Linda Thomas is among those accepting the change.

She praised Mr. Brooks for the job “he has done,” but accepts the board’s decision about “the need for change.”

“What I do know is that the NAACP needs to continue to evolve to better respond to community needs,” she told the Free Press on Monday.

Mr. Brooks had been an activist since taking over from Benjamin T. Jealous three years ago.

He opened his tenure with a justice tour seeking information on community needs and was arrested in January for leading a sit-in at the Alabama office of then U.S. Sen. Sessions in a bid to halt his confirmation as attorney general.

Mr. Brooks also was at the forefront in calling for a study of police practices after protests broke out in Ferguson, Mo., after a white police officer gunned down unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

However, that was not good enough for the board, which wants a new face to help the NAACP more effectively push back against restrictions on voting rights, cutbacks in support for public education, a rollback in efforts to reduce climate change and a reversal in efforts to reduce America’s huge prison population.

Largely overshadowed by the youthful Black Lives Matter movement and the growing opposition to the president, the NAACP hopes the tour during the fall will help it find its way.

Mr. Russell said that as part of its transformation, the NAACP is working to train members on how to quickly get the word out about Trump administration proposals that undermine progress and on mounting legal challenges to objectionable policies.

The tour, though, is seen as the real turning point.

“It is clear that Americans of all genders and ages, from all of the corners of all 50 states, have been aching to be understood, to be seen — and now, they are demanding to be heard,” Mr. Russell said.

“We want to meet those demands and ensure that we are harnessing the energy and voices of our grassroots membership. As we reimagine ourselves, we want to be formed in the likeness of the people whom we serve — and to do so, we must first see, meet and listen to them,” he continued.

“Everyone will have a place at the table,” he said, “including the new movements for social change, local organizers helping to rebuild our neighborhoods, the faith leaders and other traditional and historic African-Americans organizations that provide much needed services to their communities.

“We also want to hear from social justice advocates tackling income inequality, the millions of marchers who have taken to the streets for women’s rights and immigrant rights, the activists who are fighting for equality for LGBTQ Americans, business leaders, philanthropists lending private sector support and the longtime civil rights guardians who have spilled blood so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today.”

Mr. Brooks has been aware of the discontent and already had started looking at ways the NAACP could both engage with the Trump administration and show its opposition to policies objectionable to the people it serves.

He rejected the notion that the NAACP is out of touch. He pointed to an 87 percent increase in membership and a 200 percent increase in donations as strong signs the organization is seen as both needed and important to many.

“The NAACP has been visible, vocal, multiracial and youth-supported,” he said.

While some in the civil rights community give him high marks, it is people like Johnetta Elzie, 28, who apparently sealed his fate.

Ms. Elzie is a leader in the We The Protesters group that was born in the protests in Ferguson, Mo.

“I don’t ever think about the NAACP as a resource,” she said. “I don’t ever look in their direction to see what’s going on. I think that’s a problem because their legacy means we should be looking to them for leadership at all times.”