National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States. It works to end discrimination against Black Americans and other minority groups.
The NAACP achieves many goals through legal action. It played an important part in the 1954 ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States that segregation of Black students in public schools is unconstitutional. Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, presented the argument in the case, known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
The organization also achieves its goals through legislative action. It played a leading role in obtaining passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which protects the right to vote. This act established the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the Commission on Civil Rights. The NAACP worked for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination in public places. This law established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The association also helped bring into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects voter registration.
Activities.
The NAACP has worked successfully to fight discrimination in housing and to strengthen the penalties for violations of civil rights. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, it helped win extensions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The NAACP also led successful efforts in 1972 to increase the power of the EEOC. In 1986, the NAACP successfully campaigned for the United States to impose economic sanctions against South Africa because of its system of racial segregation, called apartheid. The NAACP helped obtain passage of an amendment in 1988 that strengthened the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
The organization strives to protect the rights of prison inmates. Its investigation of problems facing Black military personnel led to changes in the system of military assignments and promotions. The NAACP sponsors a program of voter education and registration. It works for desegregation of public schools and fights dismissals and demotions of Black teachers and administrators that it considers discriminatory. It urges publishers to produce textbooks that provide an accurate account of the achievements and activities of Black people. The NAACP also seeks to reduce the number of students who drop out of school and to encourage and reward academic, scientific, and artistic excellence among Black students.
The NAACP also acts to reduce poverty and hunger. In 1968, the organization established the Mississippi Emergency Relief Fund to feed poor Black people in the Mississippi Delta area.
History.
The NAACP was founded in 1909 by 60 Black and white citizens. In 1910, the organization began to publish The Crisis, a magazine about Black people who have achieved success in the arts, business, and other fields.
During the NAACP’s first 30 years, it worked to prevent violence against Black people, unjust legal penalties, and job discrimination. Much of its activity centered on passage and enforcement of antilynching laws. During World War II (1939-1945), the NAACP tried to obtain equal rights for Black military personnel and more job opportunities for Black civilians. After the war, the association stepped up its long struggle against the policy that treated Black Americans as “separate but equal.” This policy had been established in 1896 by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
The NAACP has hundreds of thousands of members and hundreds of youth councils. It receives funds from membership fees and from private donations. It has headquarters in Baltimore. It has a legislative bureau in Washington, D.C. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has been an independent organization since 1957, is headquartered in New York City.
