Kelly Alexander, Sr. papers concerning the NAACP

The NAACP was founded in 1909 in Springfield, Illinois in response to the vast number of lynchings taking place throughout the state at the time. To combat this high level of violence against African-Americans, a group of white liberals called for a meeting to discuss racial justice. They were supported by many of the leaders of the African-American community at the time, including W.E.B. DuBois and Ida Wells-Barnett.

In the beginning, the organization sought to guarantee the rights promised to all Americans in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, including the equal protection of the law and universal adult male suffrage. The NAACP served to advance the interests of all minority citizens in the country, not only African-Americans. By 1919, the organization had grown from a small group of founders to around 90,000 and had established itself as a strong legal advocate for equality and justice. The NAACP’s groundbreaking report, “Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1919” helped spark a public debate that greatly decreased the amount of lynchings in the country.

Walter White became the President in 1930 and began a long period of legal advocacy that included the Margold Report, which established the legal basis for overturning the “separate-but-equal” doctrine that had governed the country since 1896. White’s tenure also saw cooperation with white labor unions that helped many African-Americans earn jobs. After helping to better the economic situation of minorities, the NAACP turned its attention towards ending segregation and securing civil rights for all. They successfully ended federal enforcement of school segregation in 1954 when Thurgood Marshall won the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. Ten years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act that eliminated discrimination based on race, gender, religion or national origin.

In the early 21st century, the NAACP has largely focused its attention on ending disparities in economics, health care, education and the criminal justice system. It has been a very important organization for over one hundred years and impacted many of the most significant civil rights court cases and legislation of the twentieth century.