NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization established to eliminate race-based oppression and to secure the political, educational, social, and economic rights of Black people and other people of color. It was founded on February 12, 1909, in response to ongoing violence against Black people, by a diverse group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary White Ovington, Henry Moskowitz, and Moorfield Storey.

The NAACP established The Crisis magazine and the Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDEF) in 1940 to pursue legal challenges to segregation; Thurgood Marshall served as chief counsel and led the litigation culminating in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

In the mid-20th century, the NAACP contributed to civil rights advances, including activism to combat discrimination and to defend voting rights; the movement contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965).

In contemporary times, the NAACP continues to operate through a network of local chapters and state conferences, pursuing litigation, public policy advocacy, and community organizing; its focus areas include voting rights, criminal justice reform, education equity, health disparities, and economic opportunity.

The Crisis, founded in 1910, remains the NAACP's publication.