Introduction
The NAACP is an African-American human rights body found in America. Prominent human rights activists founded this organization in 1909 to combat assassination, prejudice and Jim Crow exclusion. The movement is also aimed at improving the welfare of the people of colour. The activists who formed this group comprised of both black and white people. The NAACP’s mission is to safeguard the educational, social, political and economic fairness among people as well as getting rid of racial based discrimination and hatred. The group historically preferred the use of courts instead of civil defiance as utilized by other groups although the two approaches have previously proved complementary.
The NAACP is an organized association with its headquarters in Baltimore and other regional offices in Texas, Michigan, Maryland, New York, Georgia, California and Colorado. Each of these offices bears the responsibility of harmonizing the efforts of all the state meetings in the states. The youth, local and college chapters organize activities for all the members. A good example is in the United States where NAACP has an administration board of 64 members and it is led by an elected chairperson. The most recent elected president is Benjamin Jealous who is the youngest. Departments that are within the NAACP govern the specific areas of deed. The legal department has a specific role of focussing on court cases that apply to minorities that includes discrimination in education, employment and government. The education department is mandated to advance education of the public while the Washington D.C. office lobbies the government. The health department is responsible for advancing healthcare for minority groups via public education and policy enterprises. The NAACP had about 425000 members by 2007, both paying and non-paying.
The NAACP was formed after the Niagara Movement was disbanded. These organizations were different, but they shared members. The Niagara Movement was formed entirely by African Americans but the inclusion of three European Americans inspired the formation of the NAACP. A group of multi-racial activists formed the NAACP on 12th February 1909. These included W.E.B. Du Bois, Oswald Garrison Villard, Ida B Wells, William English Walling, Archibald Grimke, Mary White Ovington, Florence Kelley, Henry Moscowitz and Charles Edward Russell. These activists mainly aided in planning the NAACP and acted as the chairperson of the National Negro Committee in 1909 that brought about the NAACP. During the second conference, more powerful and varied organization emerged where most of the leaders were white with many of them being Jewish American. No black president was elected until 1975. Shortly after the NAACP was formed, it started to file lawsuits aiming to upend Jim Crow statutes that made racial segregation legal and disfranchisement that was prominent earlier.
The organization presently comprises of more than 600 groups with 30000 people in total. It has a branch, the NAACP Youth and College Division, through which the youths participate actively. The Youth Council consists of many operations in the states, high schools, colleges and counties. The Youths take part in voluntary activities to share their opinions and thoughts with their aristocrats and address local and national issues. These volunteer activities sometimes expand to international levels. This offers the youth a chance of travelling to other countries and earn scholarships. A Howard University graduate and former student, Stefanie L. Brown was previously the National Youth Council Coordinator, but currently she serves as the National Youth and College Division Director of the NAACP.
The NAACP Youth and College Division’s mission is to make youth aware of the problems that affect African-Americans and other racial minorities. This is with the aim of to advancing the education, political, social and economic status of these people. Furthermore, it inspires people to appreciate the African Diaspora and the contribution of other people of colour to civilization while cultivating an intellectual, revolutionary and effective leadership among the youths.
The Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) program was put in place for high school youth in the United States and is sponsored by the NAACP. It is meant to acknowledge and award African American youth with great achievement in areas like technology, academics and arts. This is achieved by organizing competitions in several categories of success for the youth in 9th to 12th grade and is usually sponsored by the local chapters. The winners of these competitions are allowed to attend the national function at the convention that is held every summer at places around the United States. The winners are given national recognition together with monetary awards and other rewards.
Conclusion
The NAACP is a very important association whose mission stands out to advocate for fairness and stamp out racial and ethnic discrimination. A group of multiracial activists formed the organization. The association administer its activities through various departments and by engaging the youth.
Bibliography
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). NAACP: 100 Years of history. Accessed on 25th May 2014, from http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history
Sullivan, Patricia. Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement. New York City: The New Press, 2010.
Ward, Connerly. The NAACP's decline and fall. Wall Street Journal, Jul 16, 2002. http://search.proquest.com/docview/398884483?accountid=45049 (accessed May 25, 2014).
