About Us

The NAACP Nationally and Locally


Nationally

The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is the oldest, largest and strongest Civil Rights Organization in the United States. The principle objective of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of the United States.



The NAACP is committed to achievement through non-violence and relies upon the press, the petition, the ballot and the courts, and is persistent in the use of legal and moral persuasion even in the fact of overt and violent racial hostility.


LEADERSHIP

Benjamin Todd Jealous is the President, CEO and the official spokesperson for the NAACP.

STRUCTURE

The NAACP is a network of more than 2,200 branches covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Japan and Germany. They are divided into seven regions and are managed and governed by a National Board of Directors. The NAACP is headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. Total membership exceeds 500,000.

FOUNDATION

The NAACP was formed in 1909 in New York City by a group of black and white citizens committed to helping to right social injustices. On February 12, over the signatures of 60 persons, the "Call" was issued for a meeting on the concept of creating an organization that would be an aggressive watchdog of Negro liberties. This event marks the founding of the NAACP. The organization was backed by the New York Evening Post.

FOUNDERS

  • Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt (African American Man)
    (February 23, 1868 - August 27, 1963),
  • Moscowitz, Henry (Jewish male)
    (c 1875 - December 18, 1936),
  • Ovington, Mary White (White woman)
    (April 11, 1865 - died July 15, 1951),
  • Villard, Oswald Garrison (German born white male)
    (March 13, 1872 - October 1, 1949),
  • Walling, William English (White male and son of a former slave owning family)
    (1877-1936) led the "Call" to renew the struggle for civil and political liberty. and
  • Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell (African American Woman)
    (July 16, 1862 - March 25, 1931).

PROGRAMS

The following is a summary listing of NAACP National Office activities.
        
  • ACT-SO (Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics)
  • BTS/SIS (Back To School - Stay In School).
  • Armed Services & Veteran Affairs
  • Economic Development
  • Education
  • Health
  • Labor
  • Religious Affairs
  • Voter Education
  • Youth & College Division
  • Legal Affairs
  • CDRC (Community Development Resource Center)
The NAACP Washington Bureau represents one of the primary forces in lobbying for civil rights in the nation's capital. The Bureau's activities are directed primarily at the Congress, the Executive Branch and governmental agencies.

    Learn more ... about the national.