National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
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A brief overview of your interest group (be sure to put its name in bold in the first sentence) and the scope of the article goes here.[1]
The following list of sections should serve as a loose guideline for developing the body of your article. The works cited in references 2-5 are all fake; their purpose is to serve as a formatting model for your own citations.
History
This section should describe the interest group's founding and development. It would probably be a good idea to divide it into chronological subsections, for example:
Founding
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded February 12, 1909 on the heels of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. The riot was predicated on an incident that took place in August of that year. Two black men had been arrested as they had been accused of commiting violent crimes against whites in Springfield, Illinois. Because of media coverage detailing their location, a mob gathered demanding they be allowed to punish the men. A local business man named Harry Loper secretly drove the criminals to Bloomington's prison to protect them. When the mob found out, they started a riot and destroyed property of many local African Americans in Springfield killing at least six people. While there were 107 indictments, only one man was convicted of any crime -- stealing a sword from a member of the military. The murderers of the local blacks were not prosecuted.
Shortly after this event, a group formed that included liberal whites that had been descended from abolitionists. They sent out a call to action and gathered approximately 60 people (7 African Americans) to discuss the racial issues of the time and the inequality in the justice system.
Early members of the NAACP included: Mary White Ovington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Charles Edward Russell, George Henry White, Jane Addams, Oswald Garrison Villard, George Henry White, Josephine Ruffin, Fanny Garrison Villard, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Joel and Arthur Spingarn, John Haynes Holmes, Lillian Weld, Mary Church Terrell, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Mary Talbert, Lincoln Steffens, Inez Milholland, Ray Stannard Baker, Florence Kelley, Charles Darrow, Sophonisba Breckinridge, William Dean Howells, and John Dewey. There are now over 500,000 members in the world. It is America's oldest and most well known civil rights group.
Events
One of the earliest battles of the NAACP went on for 30 years and was a top priority - lynching. They took the position that the Dryer Bill, which was federal, should be signed into law as it would finally provide justice and punish those that didn't prosecute the lynch mobs or were a part of one. Although the bill was never passed, the dialogue spurred on by the report created by the NAACP (Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1919) was credited with greatly lowering lynching. In 2005 the government finally apologized for the lynching tragedy noting that there had been 4,700 victims since 1882. On three different occasions, the Senate failed to pass anti lynching bills even with the persistence of the NAACP. While the apology was offered, it was not unaminous proving that even though time had passed the goals of the NAACP were still in need of attainment.
This subsection should provide some historical context for the founding of your group, explain the motivations behind it, and describe the steps taken and challenges faced by its founders to get the ball rolling.[2]
Current objectives and activities
According to its own website,http://www.naacp.org/about/mission/index.htm, the vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to promote an end to racial hatred and discrimination in our society where all citizens are to be treated equally under the law. The objectives listed by the organization are:
To ensure the politcal, educational, social and economic equality of all citizens.
To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States
To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes
To seek enactiment and enforcment of federal, state and local laws securing civil rights
To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination
To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in the furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP's Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution
One of the objectives of the NAACP is to ensure positive portrayals of African Americans in the media. In the late 1800s, stereo types of black people were prevalent in films. Blackface was one of many offensive examples that were all the rage when the NAACP was created in 1909. The movie Birth of a Nation caused a great controversy as it was extremely racist and portrayed the fleeing of the slaves as the cause for the destruction of the way of life in the South. The repercussions of this film were that blacks were mistreated in towns where the movie played. The positive ramification was that the NAACP received recognition for speaking out as the issue was so widely known.
In the 1940s, the NAACP's Executive Secretary Walter White pressed hard on Hollywood to stop creating and encouraging these stereotypical roles for African Americans. He made headway and was deemed controversial because black actors of the day were vocally opposed to his strategy. Hattie McDaniel, who was an Oscar winner, was attributed with stating that she would prefer to portray a maid in a film, than to actually be one.
The 1950s saw the advent of television and with this came more of the same stereotypes as had been seen on film and heard on the radio. While the NAACP was unsuccessful in attempts to stop offensive shows like Amos N' Andy, it pressed on toward equality in the media.
The statistics they have from as recently as 2007 show that there are still major hurdles in equality in the images in the media. While things have improved since 1999 where the NAACP called out the fact that there were no people of color in a leading role for the entire season, in fact, since 2002 the number of African Americans and other minorities on primetime shows has been dropping. In order to combat this, the organization will continue monitoring the situation and bringing this type of information to the country's attention. While they have threatened a boycott, the NAACP prefers to negotiate and educate without denying the possibility of impending marches.
Organizational structure
OFFICERS OF THE NAACP
CHAIRMEN – NAACP BOARD
1909 William English Walling Chairman NAACP Executive Committee
1910 – 1911 William English Walling Chairman NAACP Executive Committee
1911 – 6/1912 Oswald Garrison Villard Chairman, NAACP Executive Committee
1912 – 1/1914 Oswald Garrison Villard Chairman NAACP Board
1914 – 1919 Joel E. Spingarn Chairman NAACP Board
1919 – 1934 Mary White Ovington Chairman NAACP Board
1934 – 1953 Dr. Louis T. Wright Chairman NAACP Board
1953 – 1960 Dr. Channing H. Tobias Chairman NAACP Board
1960 – 1961 Dr. Robert C. Weaver Chairman NAACP Board
1961 – 1975 Bishop Stephen Gill Spottswood Chairman NAACP Board
1975 – 1983 Margaret Bush Wilson Chairman NAACP Board
1983 – 1985 Kelly M. Alexander Sr. Chairman NAACP Board
1985 – 1995 Dr. William F. Gibson Chairman NAACP Board
1995 – 1998 Mrs. Myrlie Evers Williams Chairman NAACP Board
1998 – Present Julian Bond Chairman NAACP Board
NAACP NATIONAL PRESIDENTS
In 1996, the NAACP Board of Directors established the title President/CEO to replace the existing staff title Executive Director / CEO. At the same time, the elected office of President was eliminated.
The elected National Presidents are as follows:
1910 – 1929 Moorfield Storey
1930 – 1939 Joel E. Spingarn
1939 – 1966 Arthur B. Spingarn
1966 – 1975 Kivie Kaplan
1976 -1983 Dr. W. Montague Cobb
1983 – 1984 James Kemp
1984 – 1989 Enolia McMillian
1990 – 1992 Hazel N. Dukes
1992 – 1996 Mrs. Rupert Richardson*
- The last elected President
EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES
February, 1910 - March, 1911 Francis Blascoer April, 1911 - June, 1912 Mary White Ovington June, 1912 - January, 1916 Mary Childs Nerney January, 1916 - February, 1916 Mary White Ovington(Acting) February, 1916 - September, 1917 Royall Freeman Nash May, 1917 - January, 1918 James Weldon Johnson(Acting) January, 1918 - May 1920 John R. Shillady September, 1920 - January, 1931 James Weldon Johnson January, 1931 - April, 1955 Walter White April, 1955 – August, 1977 Roy Wilkins*
- Title changed from Executive Secretary to Executive Director
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CEO August, 1977 - May, 1993 Benjamin L. Hooks May, 1993 - August,1994 Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. September, 1994 - January, 1996 Earl Shinhoster (Acting)
PRESIDENT/CEO February, 1996 – December 31, 2004 Kweisi Mfume January, 2005 – August 1, 2005 Dennis Hayes* August 1, 2005 – February, 2007 Bruce Gordon February, 2007 – September 14, 2008 Dennis Hayes* September 15, 2008 – Present Benjamin T. Jealous
Achievements
Right after the group was formed in 1909 they won a series of cases regarding discriminary voting practices in the state of Oklahoma and the organization became known as a legal advocate.
One of the major achievements of the NAACP is the creation of The Crisis which is a magazine for civil rights. It is one of the oldest journals in the United States. It's goal is to be a respected periodical filled with opinion, high level thinking and analysis. This is a bi monthly publication focused on discussing matters of interest for the country, the world, people of cullor and all types of cultural achievements.
References
NAACP | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 2009. 9 September 2009 <http://www.naacp.org/about/missionindex.html
"George W. Bush, the NAACP, and the Persistent Damage to Black Higher Education." Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no.52 (2006): 78-80.
"Black America: After 9/11." Black Scholar 32.2 (2002): 2-25.
"Remarks at a Dinner Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the NAACP, February 19, 1999." Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents 35.8 (1999): 262-6.
Dates, Jannette L. "Black Women in Charge in Prime Time: Since the NAACP's Bad Report Card about Blacks and Television there has been some Improvement but Not nearly enough." Television Quarterly 34.3/4 (2004): 28-33.
Dreyfuss, Robert. "Rousing the Democratic Base." American Prospect 11.23 (2000): 20-3.
Grossman, Andrew D. "Segregationist Liberalism: The NAACP and Resistance to Civil-Defense Planning in the Early Cold War, 1951-1953." International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 13.3 (2000): 477-97.
Mellow, Craig. "Taking Stock at the NAACP." New Leader 65 (1982): 6-7.
Perkins, Stephynie Chapman. "Un-Presidented: A Qualitative Framing Analysis of the NAACP's Public Relations Response to the 2000 Presidential Election." Public Relations Review 31.1 (2005): 63-71.
Pinderhughes, Dianne M. "The NAACP on the Eve of the 21st Century: Rocked by Scandal and a Leadership Crisis, America's most Visible Civil Rights Organization Prepares for New Challenges in its Second Century." Focus 23 (1995): 5-6.
Price-Spratlen, Townsand. "The Urban Context of Historical Activism: NAACP Depression Era Insurgency and Organization-Building Activity." Sociological Quarterly 44.3 (2003): 303-28.
Tauber, Steven C. "On Behalf of the Condemned? the Impact of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Capital Punishment Decisions Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals." Political Research Quarterly 51.1 (1998): 191-219.