NAACPNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Victoria, Lucas

HISTORY

The NAACP was founded in 1909. It is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. The thousands of dedicated workers, organizers, leaders, and members who make up the NAACP continue to fight for social justice for all Americans.

THEIR GOALS…

To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens

To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States

To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes

To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights

To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination

THEIR METHODS… During it’s early years, the NAACP focused on

legal strategies designed to confront the critical civil rights issues of the day

Although it was criticized for working exclusively

within the system by pursuing legislative and judicial solutions, the NAACP did provide legal representation and aid to members of other protest groups.

They posted bail for hundreds of Freedom Riders in the 1960’s

IMPACT…

NAACP membership grew rapidly, from around 9,000 in 1917 to around 90,000 in 1919, with more than 300 local branches. Writer and diplomat James Weldon Johnson became the Association’s first black secretary in 1920, and Louis T. Wright, a surgeon, was named the first black chairman of its board of directors in 1934

THEIR LEGACY…

The legacy of these icons lives on through groundbreaking accomplishments in civil rights. More than 100,000 black people were registered to vote in the state of Florida, and more then 70 NAACP branches were started in the state alone

The Brown vs. Board case in 1954 desegregated public schools

The NAACP was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1694 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM…

Thanks in large part to the contributions of these and countless other NAACP members, today’s America is a more equitable place, yet disparities still exist. The nations unemployment rate is above 9 percent, it is nearly twice that for black communities. Today’s NAACP takes on these and other issues affecting communities of color.

WORKS CITED… NAACP. National Association for the Advancement of Colored

People, 2009-2013. Web. 03 May 2013 “The Legacy: Then and Now." NAACP. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May

2013. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

- Separate Is Not Equal. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d. Web. 03 May 2013.

"NAACP at ASU." NAACP at ASU. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2013 Sadlier, Rosemary. "Black American Leadership." Black History:

Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Toronto, ON: Emond Montgomery Pub., 2009. N. pag. Print.