The+NAACP+Was+it+a+successful+organization+(1920-1930)


__ NAACP __

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created out of two African- American views concerning race at the beginning of the 20th century. The NAACP was a middle ground response between the teachings of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. Washington believed that African -Americans should work with whites to better their positions. In contrast, DuBois felt that African- Americans needed racial justice and could only achieve it by separating from whites. In 1909 the organization recognized that the emphasis they wanted to place in terms of being successful was to help out racial causes through the courts system. In the beginning, its goals were simple; voting rights for African -Americans and protection of their civil rights, as well. The organization was also formed at a time where in the southern United States lynching of blacks was commonplace. Although the NAACP has been criticized as being too moderate in its views and not forceful enough in demanding civil rights and equality, it has never the less, existed for 99 years. On the year before its 100th anniversary, the NAACP functioned as an advocate for and defender of African Americans civil rights and right to live with peace and justice. The NAACP has included among its members, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. King, a Nobel Prize winner, was an icon in the American civil rights movement. Rosa Parks was one individual who stood up to racism and discrimination, thereby integrating the Montgomery Alabama public bus system. The NAACP was also an important voice in calling for justice in the death of Emmett Till. Till was killed in Mississippi because at the time, it was illegal for a black man to speak to a white woman. While these are the famous members of the NAACP, it has been the work behind the scenes that has given this organization its credibility. The NAACP was founded by an interracial group of white progressives and black hard liners that came out of the Niagara Movement (Rise, 392). The Niagara Movement was a militant group of black and white Americans that demanded equal educational, political, and civil rights for blacks while demanding the government enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments (Kutler, 527). Actually the NAACP came into being on February 12, 1909. This is a symbolic date for the organization as that day was the hundredth birthday of President Lincoln. In all the founding members numbered in a total of sixty people.(pbs.org) The invitation to the original founding meeting was issued as the //Call//, a plea to black activists to come and join the organization as it prepared to fight for the human rights for African – Americans. At that first meeting were Ida Wells, famous muckraker and W.E.B.DuBois to name a few. The rights group would entitle their publication the //Crisis// with DuBois being the editor. The NAACP began its existence in a country where discrimination, violence, and the killing of blacks occurred without the intervention of southern state governments or the federal government. DuBois wanted the NAACP to take a more aggressive stance towards discrimination at the hands of white America. For the first two decades of the NAACP Dubois criticized everyone in public office, no one was spared his anger and resentment. He especially attacked under the sponsorship of the NAACP President Woodrow Wilson who gave the approval that the federal government in Washington D.C. could be segregated. DuBois let his displeasure be known when he criticized the states and federal government for only providing educational opportunities to blacks in the south as being trained for industrial work. He complained about the fact that state and federal governments were not moving quickly enough to provide higher education opportunities for blacks. In 1909 it was not uncommon for wide spread marches of the Ku Klux Klan in robes in Washington, DC. In 1925, in Washington, DC, with the permission of the U.S government, the KKK staged a parade that lasted for 6 hours (Hughes,). At that time, the KKK and other white southern hate groups tried to intimidate African Americans. The NAACP was founded on two basic approaches to achieve justice for African -Americans. These approaches included using the courts and public education. At the heart of the NAACP’s mission, the organization tried to influence the U.S Congress to act by passing laws that would protect African Americans and guaranteed their civil rights. The organization also used its lawyers to take organizations to court that discriminated against blacks. Its mission was basically a peaceful one; they did not resort to violence or demonstration. From 1910 to 1936, the NAACP used white and black attorneys that attacked four areas of injustice; suffrage, residential segregation, restrictive covenance, and due process rights (Kutler, 526). An early victory for the NAACP occurred in the U. S. Supreme Court. In the case of //Guinn and Beale v U. S.// in 1915the court overturned an amendment to the state of Oklahoma’s constitution exempted literacy tests to those or to the descendants of those eligible to vote prior to January 1, 1867.(Rise,526) In 1920 Atlanta, Georgia was known as the capital for the KKK. However, in 1920 the NAACP deliberately selected Atlanta for its annual conference. The NAACP tried to demonstrate that they would not be intimidated or threatened by the KKK and had every right to hold its convention in Atlanta. That year the organization tried to make a point of putting pressure on the United States government to end lynching. The NAACP demanded that President Wilson publicly condemned lynching. The organization put such pressure on president Wilson who wanted a just peace in Europe but yet was unwilling to publicly condemn lynching within his own country (Rise, 393). It took the NAACP in its early years to develop the self-confidence to take on presidents, congress, state governments, and the KKK its self. However, with each experience, their voice became stronger. Of all the achievements of the NAACP, they were for the most part committed to anti- lynching laws. It was not uncommon in the 1920’s for America to experience race riots. For example, one of the worst race riots took place in 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the time Tulsa was a vibrant community that had many successful blacks and a decent sized middle class. In one example a white woman who operated an elevator claimed that a black man had assaulted her. After his arrest, the community responded with anger. “Seventy-five armed blacks went to the jail to protect him from a mob.” (Wormer, 130) After the intense situation died down, and the blacks were leaving, a few white men tried to grab the guns of the blacks. The action resulted in several whites being killed. Tulsa went into a period of chaos where, “Thirty-five city blocks were burnt to the ground, 6,000 blacks were rounded up by a mob, and 75-300 blacks were killed, many by lynching.” (Wormser, 130) These events put the NAACP into motion. The organization immediately went to congress to press for anti- lynching laws that would be federal laws. Besides Tulsa, the NAACP produced a statistic, “that 50 percent of all black lynchings are black men who are held in custody.” (Wormser, 130) In 1930, Walter White, head of the NAACP, was frustrated by Congress’s inability to pass anti lynching laws. In New York City he placed on flag poles that were hanging over 5th Avenue flags that read, “A man was lynched yesterday.” (Wormser, 126) However, the NAACP certainly had its share of difficulties during their formative years. DuBois harsh tone was angering members who thought the organization needed to be more appeasing to whites and work within the framework of cooperation. In the early 1930’s Dubois wrote an article demanding that black school children should be segregated, “Voluntary segregation maintaining that black children would receive a better education from black teachers”. (pbs.org) The head of the NAACP in the early 1930s was Walter White who confronted DuBois and in an angry argument DuBois quit the NAACP and his role as editor of the //Crisis//. The trial of the Scottsboro Boys attracted significant criticism to the NAACP. The boys were accused of raping two white women. They were arrested and detained in jail in Scottsboro, Alabama. At first two unwilling public lawyers represented the defendants. However, the NAACP was reluctant to become involved given the serious nature and potential white backlash. Many critics claim that the NAACP was trying to appear to whites that they were supportive of the arrests and convictions. In many African- American circles in the United States, the case of the Scottsboro Boys was incredibly unjust. Many thought that the NAACP would rush to represent these boys. Instead, “It was the communist party that moved aggressively to make the Scottsboro case their own.” (Linder, 391) The communist party saw this case as being able to recruit southern blacks to the communist party. After intense criticism against the NAACP the organization finally was persuaded to ask famous defense attorney in the 1920’s named Clarence Darrow to take their case to the Alabama courts. However it was too late and the communist party had control of the boy’s legal representation. Ironically, the case, which attracted national attention, brought fourth discrimination against the boys and their communist lawyers. “The Scottsboro Boys case and their lots with the communist who in the south were treated with only slightly more courtesy then a gang of rapists.” (Linder, 393) The NAACP seriously miscalculated their inability to defend the Scottsboro Boys and more radical black activists who believed the organization was not serious about its mission held this against them. This was an experience that the NAACP disappointed its members and certainly shocked the defendants. The Scottsboro Boys case in Alabama in the 1920’s was an example of the inefficiency and confusion concerning what the NAACP should be the defendants had to rely on the poor legal advice of two public lawyers. The NAACP’s decision not to defend the defendants was a blow to black unity and pride. What made it more difficult for African Americans to accept was the fact that the American communist party was the group who represented all of the defendants. The NAACP in its limited vision, had allowed the communist party to step in and defend what should have been by right, the NAACP’s role. Instead, a battle between the NAACP and the communist party was fought over who is better suited to represent their needs. All but one of the defendants was sentenced to death. However, it did not help the NAACP that a group, especially white communists, had stepped into the case and fought for justice. Even though the NAACP had its problems, the organization must be credited in the early 1920’s and 1930’s for trying to push forward on anti lynching- bills and following up any forms of discrimination in state and federal courts. Since 1900, every president from Wilson to FDR could not urge congress to pass anti- lynching bills. However, the NAACP would without success lobbied every president and every member of congress in those years to urge them to pass an anti -lynching bill. Every time discussion of an anti- lynching bill reached the floor of congress, white southern opposition killed it. The NAACP was successful however, in applying public pressure in the 1930’s to a point where in 1939 there were only two lynchings reported. (Wormer, 154) The struggle for the NAACP during those decades was an uphill battle. The organization should be credited for using its original mission statement of trying to work within the laws of government, and through public education, to highlight the grave racial discrimination and the violent lynchings. Although the voice of the NAACP would be overshadowed by other African-American civil rights group the fact that the NAACP was the primary civil rights group pressing for equality cannot be ignored. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s working within the framework of their mission the organization worked with commitment. The group’s dedication to work peacefully without violence could be viewed as directly affecting the strategies Martin Luther King Jr. as he pressed for racial equality. Although the organization had its share of critics concerning its less than confrontational approach it is hard to imagine where the state of civil rights would be today. The NAACP by its mission statement and dedication to its principles has helped move the resolution of racial conflict in the country. Quite possibly without the existence of the NAACP there might have not been the “I Have a Dream” speech nor a March on Washington D.C. or that President Truman was the first U.S. President to address the NAACP’s annual meeting in 1947 or for that moment no African-American running for president.

__ Works Consulted/ Annotated Bibliography __ Hughes, Langston. __Fight for Freedom.__ New York: Norton and Company, 1962. Ø  This book by Langston Hughes was extremely helpful and provided me with a lot of information. Even though I did not use everything I read about in it, it helped me have a good starting knowledge of the NAACP and informing me of its history. The book also broke down the time periods and sections of the NAACP’s existence making it really easy to find information in the right time period. Kutler,Stanley. __Dictionary of American History Vol.5.__ New York: Thompson-Gale,2003. Ø  The Dictionary of American History was some what helpful in aiding me in my paper. It contained a lot of compacted information, but it was formed as an encyclopedia and it was hard to translate those facts into an essay kind-of story form. Other than that, it pretty much satisfied my needs for some information on the NAACP. Linder, Douglas. “The Trial of the Scotsboro Boys. 26 April 2008. http://www.law,umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scotsboro/sb-acct.html Ø  This source about the Scottsboro boys was semi- helpful. I didn’t as much use it to get information for my essay, but more for myself and learning about the background. This website was really easy to read and provided a clear explanation of what happened. “NAACP Mission Statement”. 25 April 2008. [|http://www.NAACP.org] Ø  Reading the mission statement on the NAACP helped me a lot. It not only showed me what the NAACP’s goals were for the past, but they still consist today. It summed up what they are built for and how they function, which I feel was necessary in writing this essay. “NAACP”. 28 April 2008. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/NAACP.html Ø  This site about the NAACP was a website I found off ask.com. I don’t feel like it is a completely serious website about the NAACP and its meaning and past, but more of just a general search result about it. I would not recommend using it for much information. “President Truman’s Address to the NCAAP, June 28, 1947.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/truman/psources/ps-ncaap.html Ø  President Truman’s Address to the NAACP was a big help in gaining information. This is a very important address that was a large part in the NAACP’s existence. To read about them being recognized by a president and addressed, also helped me realize how big of a deal it was. Rise, Eric. //The Journal of Negro History// Vol.82 no.4. New York: Association for the Study of African – American Life and History Inc. Ø  This source was pretty helpful. It contained a very large amount of information and political history on the NAACP. Not only was it a professional source, but it presented the material in that manner as well. I would highly recommend using this source. Strickland, Anvah. “The NAACP”. 29 April 2008. //The Journal of Negro History// Vol.82 no.4. New York: Association fro the Study of African – American Life and History Inc. Ø  This source was from the same book above, but just a different section recorded by a different person. It had basically the same layout and formation, so, I would also recommend using this too. “The Rise and Fall Of Jim Crow South”. 28 April 2008. [|http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow//stories_people_dubois.html] Ø  This website was very helpful. It listed the information in a story form and the site itself made it interesting and presented a lot of information about Jim Crow. Although it was short, I still felt that after reading this I didn’t need to research Jim Crow anymore because it gave me clear and specific information.