Josiah+Hassell

[[image:http://thyblackman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/NAACPLOGO1.jpg width="504" height="379"]]
The NAACP was founded on Feb. 12, 1909. The NAACP is the largest grassroots-based civil-right organization. The NAACP has over a half-million members and supporters in the United States and the world. They were premier advocates(speakers) for the civil rights in their communities, campaigning for equal opportunity and conducting voter mobilization. One reason the NAACP was made was becauce of the continuing horrific practice of lynching. Another reason for the creation of the NAACP was the race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln's resting place. Upset about the violence that was being committed against blacks, a group of white liberals issued a call for a meeting about racial justice.

//The Crisis: The crisis magizine was used as the premier crusading voice for civil rights. The magizine was created by W.E.B. Du Bois. One of the oldest periodicals in America, The Crisis still continues this message. Not only was it voice of NAACP but later became the voice of the Harlem Renaissance, as Du Bois published works by Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and many other African American literary figures. The Crisis is dedicated to being an open and forum for discussing critical issues confronting people of color//, American society and the world in addition to highlighting the historical and cultural achievements of these diverse peoples.

//Growth: With a strong exaggeration on local organizing, by 1913 the NAACP had built branch offices in cities such as Boston, Baltimore, Kansas City, Washington, Detroit, and St. Louis.Joel Springarn, one of the NAACP founders, was a professor of literature and formulated much of the strategy that led to the growth of the organization. He was elected board chairman of the NAACP in 1915 and served as president from 1929-1939.// NAACP membership grew rapidly, from around 9,000 in 1917 to around 90,000 in 1919, with more than 300 local branches. Writer and diplomat James Weldon Johnson became the Association's first black secretary in 1920, and Louis T. Wright, a surgeon, was named the first black chairman of its board of directors in 1934.

W.E.B. Dubois was an Americn civil rights activist, leader Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. He became a naturalized citizen Of me in 1963 at the age of 95. W.E.B. Dubois was born on Feb. 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, were he was raised. In his teen years he did some newspaper reporting. In 18 //as valedictorian from high school. He got his bachelors of art from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, having spent summers teaching in African American schools in Nashville's rural areas. He entered Harvard University as a junior in 1888, took a bachelors of arts cum laude, was one of six commencement speakers.// Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is considered the formative figure in the modern fight for civil rights, and his legacy looms large in the work of all those who follow him in his cause. Dr. King's involvement with the NAACP dates back to his position on the executive committee of the NAACP Montgomery Branch in the 1950's, through his leadership in the various boycotts, marches and rallies of the 1960's, and up until his assassination in 1968. In 1957 the NAACP awarded him the Spingarn Medal, its most prestigious honor.


 * Harry T. Moore**was born on November 18, 1905, in Houston, Florida, a tiny farming community in Suwanee County, in the Florida Panhandle. He was the only child of Johnny and Rosa Moore. His father tended the water tanks for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and ran a small store in front of the house. In July 1949, the Groveland rape burst upon the national scene, after four young black men were accused of raping a white woman. A white mob went on a rampage through Groveland's black neighborhood, and the National Guard had to be called out to restore order.

There is no doubt Mrs. Rosa Parks is one of our country's most important historical ?gures. Often referred to as "the mother of the civil rights movement," she was the spark that set off the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Contrary to the folkloric accounts of her civil rights role, Mrs. Parks was not too tired to move. Rather, she had been a knowledgeable NAACP stalwart for many years and gave the organization the incident it needed to move against segregation in the unreconstructed heart of the Confederacy, Montgomery, AL. Mrs. Parks headed the Youth Division at the Montgomery NAACP branch for years. She is the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor and the NAACP's Spingarn Medal.


 * Mrs. Myrlie Evers-Williams** is a phenomenal woman of great strength and courage. Her dedication to civil rights and equality is exemplified by her activist role, linking together business, government, and social issues to further human rights and equality. On February 18, 1995, she was elected to the position of Chairman of the National Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). With the support of a strong member base of the NAACP, she is credited with spearheading the operations that restored the Association to its original status as the premier civil rights organization.

Not just an influential and notable novelist, poet, and songwriter, **James Weldon Johnson** was a lawyer, a United States consul in a foreign nation, and served an important role in combating racism through his position in the NAACP.James Weldon Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His father was a headwaiter at a hotel and his mother was a teacher at the segregated Stanton School. Johnson grew up in a middle-class home, and his mother encouraged him to pursue an interest in reading and music. Johnson attended Stanton until he entered high school. He attended high school and college at Atlanta University. He received his bachelor's in 1894.