The nation’s oldest civil rights organization celebrates its 100th birthday today under the reins of a young new leader who wants to expand the group’s focus from civil rights for African Americans to human rights for everyone.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, by 60 people, both black and white, gathered in a New York apartment to discuss recent race riots and how to fight discrimination. They signed a proclamation known as “The Call,” and the NAACP, initially known as the National Negro Committee, was born.
In its first three decades, the NAACP’s primary mission was to end the lynching of African Americans. The group held protests, persuaded President Woodrow Wilson to make a public statement against lynching, and in 1922 published a full-page ad in major newspapers that said 3,224 people had been lynched between 1889 and 1918 for offenses such as offensive language and refusal to give up land. Educating the American public, NAACP leaders have long believed, is one of the most effective tools to gaining equal rights.
The organization’s crusade then moved to fighting the Jim Crow laws that made segregation legal. NAACP lawyers won numerous courtroom battles that broke down barriers for African Americans and allowed equal access to education, the right to vote and employment opportunities.
A century later, the NAACP now has 225,000 dues-paying members, 1,700 branches, a 64-member executive board and the youngest leader in its history.
Source: SFGate
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