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The NAACP aims to ensure equality in politics, education, business, and social issues for all races, fighting against racism and promoting minority rights. It was founded in 1909, succeeding the Niagara Movement, and has four departments devoted to different aspects of its goals. The organization has successfully fought against Jim Crow laws and made great strides in desegregation. It also supports the arts through the Image Awards and the annual presentation of the Spingarn Medal to a historic African American.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an organization dedicated to ensuring equality in politics, education, business, and social issues for all races. Many of the activities undertaken by the group are oriented towards the elimination of racism and the promotion of minority rights. Operating primarily in the United States, the NAACP is led by a 64-member board of directors, which in turn elects a president to oversee the day-to-day functions of the organization. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, it also has offices in six other states that coordinate local chapters across the country.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Southern states made an effort to change their constitutions in an effort to disenfranchise African-American voters. Forming the basis of the future organization, many prominent African Americans joined with white journalists and social workers to found the Niagara Movement in 1905. Although the group began to make progress in the pursuit of equal rights, many divisions within the movement were very more radical than the main nucleus. Four years later, with the founding of the NAACP, the Niagara Movement was dissolved. Many of the members joined the new organization to continue the fight for voting rights and general equality.
Within the structure of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People there are four specific departments, each devoted to different aspects of the group’s goals. Branch and field services support local chapters at the community and college level. The education department focuses on educating the public about race relations and equality. The advancement of health care for minorities is managed by the Health Division, while anti-discrimination goals and the legal defense of minorities are overseen by the Legal Department.
Throughout its history, the organization has successfully fought against Jim Crow laws, statutes that legalized segregation between whites and other races. By joining the movements of notables such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the organization has been able to cross legal boundaries such as Plessy v. Ferguson, a doctrine of “separate but equal”. He also made great strides in desegregation with the legal backing of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that finally opened schools across the country to all races. Today, the organization is also known for its support of the arts through the Image Awards and the annual presentation of the Spingarn Medal to a historic African American.
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