NAACP OVERVIEW
On February 12, 1909, on the 100th anniversary of
Abraham Lincoln's birthday, sixty prominent black and white citizens
issued "The Call" for a national conference in New York
City to renew "the struggle for civil and political liberty."
Principal among these was W.E.B. DuBois, who formed the Niagara Movement
which drew up an agenda for aggressive action not unlike the group
he now joined. Also involved was Ida Wells-Barnett, a young journalist,
whose eloquent editorials focused national attention on the epidemic
of lynchings. Participants at the conference agreed to work toward
the abolition of forced segregation, promotion of equal education
and civil rights under the protection of law, and an end to race violence.
In 1911, that organization was incorporated as the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People - the NAACP.
Working through the Courts
The distinctive strategic emphasis of the NAACP - ending discrimination
through legal action - evolved during its first twenty years. By assuming
the legal challenges that were required to gain full citizenship for
blacks, the Association became a formidable force for change even
in its early years. First in Guinn v. United States, the Supreme Court
in 1910 struck down the grandfather clauses of state constitutions
as an unconstitutional barrier to voting rights under the Fifteenth
Amendment. In 1917, the Court declared unconstitutional a Louisville
ordinance that required blacks to live in certain sections of the
city, thus changing residential segregation through city ordinances.
Subsequent NAACP lawsuits nullified restrictive covenants - clauses
in real estate deeds that pledged white buyers never to sell the property
to blacks. And in 1923, the court declared that exclusion of blacks
from juries was inconsistent with the right to a fair trial. Thus,
in just a few years, formidable obstacles to black voting, integrated
communities and integrated juries had been removed through concerted
legal action. The Association then widened its scope and faced the
next barrier to equal rights. Case precedents were established "culminating
in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared an end to segregated
and, in so doing, ended de jure segregation." The process was
slow and evolutionary, but as history has demonstrated it was the
only way to win full constitution guarantees for the rights of minorities.
A Voice for Change
For 90 years, the NAACP, through political pressure, marches, demonstrations
and effective lobbying - has served as the voice, of African Americans.
As the nation's largest advocacy organization, our prolonged agitation
for peaceful change has been felt in every aspect of American life.
Born in response to racial violence, the Association's first major
campaign was the effort to get the anti-lynching laws on the books.
In 1919, to awaken the national conscience, the Association published
an exhaustive review of lynching records entitled, Thirty Years of
Lynching in the United States, 1889-1918. NAACP leaders, at potential
risk to their own lives, conducted first-hand investigations of racially
motivated violence which were widely publicized.
Though bills passed the House of Representatives several times, they
were always defeated in the Senate. Nonetheless, NAACP efforts brought
an end to the excesses of mob violence through public exposure and
the public pressure it mobilized.
In the 1930's, as lynchings declined, the NAACP shifted its focus
from racial brutality to the grim economic conditions produced by
the Great Depression. The Association lobbied fiercely against racial
discrimination in New Deal programs. Only the imminent threat of a
national march on Washington led to FDR's Executive Order to create
a Fair Employment Practices Committee and to ban racial discrimination
in industries which received federal contracts. The door to new employment
opportunities had opened slightly.
As the nation threw itself into World War II, the NAACP launched a
"second war" to end discrimination and segregation in the
Armed Services, while expanding employment opportunities on the home
front. Though unable to obtain the creation of racially mixed voluntary
units, the NAACP affected formation of the nation's first black Air
Force units. It was not until 1948 that President Truman issued an
Executive Order prohibiting racial discrimination in the federal service.
Through the Association's sustained pressure, the desegregation of
the armed forces had become inevitable.
While Brown v. Board of Education proved the end of a long struggle,
it also marked the beginning of a new one. Despite attempts to outlaw
the NAACP throughout the South, the Association pressed ahead with
voter registration, sit-in demonstrations (the NAACP Youth Council
in Oklahoma City pioneered the tactic in 1958), and grassroots protests
of injustice. One memorable example took place in Alabama in 1955.
NAACP Montgomery Branch Secretary Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat on a bus to a white man. This defiant act triggered the Montgomery
Bus Boycott and another chapter in the civil rights struggle.
The NAACP's creation of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
- a coalition of civil rights organizations - institutionalized broad-based
support for the struggle and was crucial to the Association's drive
to win passage of civil rights legislation in Congress. It began with
the 1957 Civil Rights Acts - the first since Reconstruction. Subsequently,
the NAACP-led coalition produced the Civil Rights Acts of 1960 and
1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 1968 Fair Housing Act
- laws which ensured government protection for legal victories going
back some 75 years. In one decade, a non-violent social revolution
had transformed American society.
The NAACP brought other changes through public pressure and raised
consciousness. Since our protest of Birth of a Nation in 1915, we
have long fought to end the racial stereotypes that create misunderstanding
and prejudice. We have worked to change attitudes, laws, and institutions
for the good of all Americans. We have repeatedly rejected the voices
of hate and separatism, seeking to bind old wounds and unify our nation.
Today, after years of unrelenting struggle, were affirm our commitment
to the true American Dream - an integrated society rich in diversity
and open equally to all. The struggle continues and we invite all
Americans to stand with us - Native-American, black, white, and Hispanic,
young and old, Jew and Gentile, male and female. Wherever Americans
of good will and decency reside - they are welcome to join our ranks
until freedom for all is won.
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The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
is the oldest, largest and strongest civil rights organization in the
United States. The principal objective of the NAACP is to ensure the
political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group
citizens of the United States. The NAACP is committed to non-violence
and relies upon the press, the petition, the ballot and the courts,
even in the face of overt and violent racial hostility.
FOUNDATION:
The NAACP was formed in 1909 in New York City by a group of black and
white citizens committed to social justice. On February 12, over the
signatures of 60 persons, the "Call" was issued for a meeting
on the concept of creating an organization that would be an aggressive
watchdog of Negro liberties. This event marks the founding of the NAACP.
FOUNDERS:
Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington,
Oswald Garrison Villiard, William English Walling and led the "Call"
to renew the struggle for civil and political liberty.
STRUCTURE:
The NAACP is a network of more than 2,200 branches covering all 50 states,
the District of Columbia, Japan and Germany. They are divided into seven
regions and are managed and governed by a National Board of Directors.
The NAACP is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. Total membership
exceeds 500,000.
LEADERSHIP:
Kweisi Mfume is the President and Chief Executive Officer and the official
spokesperson for the NAACP. The Chairman of the Board is Julian Bond.
2001 © Copyright, NAACP Fort Lauderdale,
All Rights Reserved
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