National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its 21st century mission is to "ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination".

Quotes

• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, hereinafter referred to as the “NAACP” or the “Association,” was founded on the beliefs embodied in the Constitution of the United States of America. We support democracy, dignity and freedom. Members of the NAACP, in keeping with the charge of our founders, stand against all forms of injustice. The United States of America, built by us all, belongs to all of us. The repayment for our labor is equity and justice for all. The NAACP will continue to fight for justice until all, without regard to race, gender, creed or religion enjoy equal status.
  • First sentence of Preamble to the NAACP Constitution

• The power of the 110-year history of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as the largest most recognized effective grassroots civil rights organization, is that we work in partnership with individuals and other organizations that embrace and support the mission of the NAACP.
  • First sentence of Memorandum of Understanding

Principal Objectives

• 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
• To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP’s Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.
  • From NAACP Constitution

Quotes about the NAACP

• For more than a century the NAACP has been essential to struggles for racial justice and civil rights. Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People grew quickly, setting agendas and developing tactics that propelled the civil rights movement through the 20th century... From an early date, the NAACP was a grass roots organization with a mass membership based in hundreds of communities across the nation. NAACP local branches have always been key to the organization's endurance and effectiveness.
  • NAACP History and Geography 1909-1980, The University of Washington, (2015)

• Winning is what the NAACP was built on – winning battles for racism, freedom, justice and equality. The NAACP was formed in 1908 after a deadly race riot that featured anti-black violence and lynching erupted in Springfield, Illinois. According to the storied organization’s website, a group of white liberals that included descendants of famous abolitionists Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard; William English Walling, and Dr. Henry Moscowitz, all issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. About 60 people, seven of whom were African American, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell, answered the call, which was released on the centennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln.
  • The Storied History of the NAACP, The Charleston Chronicle (23 July 2019)

• 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. Currently the total membership exceeds 500,000.
  • General NAACP History, Rice University
• In the sociology of the left, including the NAACP, there cannot be a wound the black community inflicts on itself that is not ultimately the responsibility of malicious whites.
  • David Horowitz, (August 16, 1999). "Guns don't kill black people, other blacks do". Salon.com. Retrieved on 2013-06-21.

• Institutions such as the NAACP generally consider the courtroom and the halls of government the most important battlegrounds in the fight for equality, while student movements seek to empower communities with nonviolent direct action.
  • Bree Newsome "The Civil-Rights Movement’s Generation Gap" article in The Atlantic (2018)