Final answer:
Ernest Everett Just was the founder awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP, which recognizes outstanding achievement by an African American.
Step-by-step explanation:
The founder who was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP is Ernest Everett Just.
The Spingarn Medal is an award given annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for outstanding achievement by an African American. The NAACP, founded in 1909, emerged in response to the persistent discrimination against African Americans and became a leading organization in the civil rights movement.
Leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, who also fiercely advocated for equality and was one of the founders of the NAACP, worked towards ending segregation and ensuring equal rights through various means, including the legal system and public protests.