The oldest Civil Rights Organization just celebrated 110 years
Hey y’all! I’m just reminding you that it’s still Black History Month and we are still celebrating black excellence of course. Let’s talk about how the oldest civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people, as known as the NAACP, because they just celebrated 110 years of activism.
What is the NAACP?
Well i’m glad you asked that question and even if you didn’t, you’re still going to hear about this organization. The NAACP has been on the front lines of the civil rights movements. Whenever there is a protest, such as women’s rights, lgbtq rights, black rights, etc., the NAACP is there fighting.They were founded on February 12th, 1909 as a biracial coalition in New York, NY after a race riot in Springfield, Illinois. The founders were among W.E.B DuBois, Ida B. Wells, Oswald Villard, William English Walling, Mary White Ovington, and Henry Moskovitz. They were later incorporated in 1911.
Movements they’ve been apart of.
As I stated before, NAACP has been apart of many movements, such as the Civil Rights Movement, which they played a pivotal role in. The group won major legal victories. One of their earlier movements were the Anti-lynching campaign. To raise awareness they organized a silent march in which 10,000 people participated. The march was demonstration of one of the very first protests against racial violence. They did not get an anti-lynching law passed, but it lead to the decrease of lynchings.The major victories you may be aware of is Brown v. Board of Education, argued by Thurgood Marshall, the head of their Legal Defense and Educational Fund. They helped organize the March on Washington, one of the most monumental moments in history. Two victories you all should be well aware of are the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A victory not talked about is when they were able to eliminate the “grandfather clause”, which kept the grandsons of slaves from voting. If it wasn’t for the NAACP i’m not sure where we would actually be. They are trail blazers.
Prevalence in this time period.
The NAACP is still needed to this day and it is sad that they have to fight the same fight, but they are persevering. Today, they focus on inequality in jobs, education, health care and reforming the criminal justice system. They are also constantly pushing for the removal of Confederate flags and statues from public property. I support this, because why are we dwelling on and celebrating an army that fought to keep the brutal and inhumane institution of slavery. That’s basically celebrating racism, but who am I to make that judgement?
The NAACP is responsible for many great victories in history. Nevertheless, NAACP is constantly fighting a battle we should be done fighting and they deserve more recognition.