Naacp

N.A.A.C.P (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

The NAACP was founded on February 12th, 1909, which was 100 years after President Abraham Lincoln's birthdate. They formed due to the horrid practice of lynching and the 1908 Race Riot in Springfield, Illinois. They immediately began campaigning for equal opportunity. Their first meeting had 60 attendees and only 7 of them were African Americans, at the meeting they discussed what issues have called them into order and signed a document titled “The Call” which would later become the Official NAACP Constitution. The signers of the Call were prominent citizens. The main goal of the NAACP was the secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments in the Bill of Rights. This was a goal that would either be achieved through blood, sweat, and tears but it was a goal that would pave a way of change in America.

Many of the people who stood firmly behind the NAACP during the Civil Rights Era were tormented, brutalized, and even killed in cold blood to gain the victory that they knew African-Americans deserved. Harry T. Moore would be the first but not the last of many to experience the brutality that the Klansmen would bring upon the NAACP staff and supporters. Moore was a NAACP Florida field secretary who had his home bombed on Christmas night. Medgar Evers and his wife would become targets to pro-segregationists. The Evers’ faced two attacks against them, but the one that finally caused everyone to see the horrifying hostility that blacks received was the night Medgar was coming home and just has he was walking up to his home, he was shot by a sniper. Not all of the NAACP supporters were sacrificed, some rose to high accounts such as Clarence Mitchell Jr. He was a prominent person in the NAACP during the Civil Rights Era. Mitchell was head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and he was also the NAACP Washington D.C.’s breau. He helped advance not only the integration of the United States Armed Forces in 1948 but waged a compelling campaign on Capitol Hill to secure the passing of a series of Civil Rights Laws. Although many NAACP staff and supporters were abused during the endless fights for the African American community, many lived on to see the end and were able to witness the victories.

The most important victory that NAACP gained after many years of struggling, campaigning, and fighting was the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act was called for by President John F. Kennedy in his speech about Civil Rights which was addressed on June 11th, 1963. During his speech he asked for "legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public - hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments", as well as "the greater protection of the right to vote". JFK