100 NAACP VICTORIES
NAACP CENTENNIAL CONVENTION
1909
On February 12, 1909, the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People is founded by a multiracial group of activists who
answer “The Call” in New York City. They initially call themselves the
National Negro Committee. This organization will go on to become
the most important civil rights organization in American history.
1910
The first issue of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, is
published with W.E.B. Du Bois serving as editor. The magazine, with a
circulation peaking at 100,000, dispels notions of inferiority and covers
virtually every aspect of African-American life.
1913
The first NAACP branch is organized in New York City as the New York
Vigilance Committee. Within six months, its members have successfully
secured justice in cases of police brutality and discrimination.
1913
NAACP executive secretary Mary Ovington and a team of white
volunteer journalists form a press committee whose purpose is to supply
newspapers and magazines with accurate, well-documented information
on issues relating to blacks. Within a few years, the NAACP is providing
information to a list of 289 white, black, Northern, Southern and foreign
newspapers, which helps to change the public perception of African
Americans.
1915
Guinn v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 (1915), strikes down the
“grandfather clause” in Oklahoma’s Voter Registration Act of 1910,
stating that the clause discriminates against blacks and therefore violates
the 15th Amendment. NAACP president Morefield Storey convinces the
U.S. solicitor general to challenge the Oklahoma amendment.
1915
The NAACP organizes a nationwide protest of D.W. Griffith’s racially
inflammatory and bigoted silent film Birth of a Nation. Although the
organization is not able to block release of the film, it is able to censor
it in some states and mobilizes thousands of men and women in large
cities across the nation to rally against racism and violence.
1916
The NAACP’s anti-lynching campaign portrays the brutality of lynching
and successfully reaches the conscience of America. The obvious threat
to law and order serves to turn public opinion against lynching.
1917
The NAACP fights and wins the battle to enable African Americans to
be commissioned as officers in World War I. Six hundred officers are
commissioned, and 700,000 African Americans register for the draft.
1917
The NAACP’s battle against residential segregation is successful in
Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917), in which the United States
Supreme Court rules that racially restrictive zoning ordinances are
unconstitutional.
1917
A Silent Protest Parade is organized to protest increasing violence
toward African Americans and the lack of governmental response. On
July 28, 1917, 8,000 black men, women and children march silently
down Fifth Avenue in New York City. Dressed in their finest clothes,
they carry signs and march to the sound of muffled drums. The artist
Aaron Douglas contends that the parade marks the true beginning of the
Harlem Renaissance.
1918
After persistent pressure by the NAACP, President Woodrow Wilson
finally makes a public statement against lynching.
1919
The NAACP publishes a major study of lynching entitled Thirty Years of
Lynching in the United States, 1889–1918.
1919
In Elaine, Arkansas, 79 black defendants are quickly tried after
defending themselves during a mob altercation. Twelve are found guilty
of murder and sentenced to death; 67 are given prison sentences
ranging from 20 years to life. The NAACP challenges the rulings all the
way up to the Supreme Court, where the convictions are overturned and
an important precedent is established.
1920
To ensure that everyone, especially the Ku Klux Klan, knows the NAACP
will not be intimidated, the organization’s annual conference is held
in Atlanta, considered one of the most active areas of the Klan. The
conference is a huge success.
1922
In an unprecedented move, the NAACP places large ads in major
newspapers to present the facts about lynching.
1923
In the Supreme Court case Moore et al. v. Dempsey, 261 U.S. 86
(1923), the court rules 6–2 that the defendants’ mob-dominated trials
deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of
the 14th Amendment and reverses the district court’s decision declining
the petitioners’ writ of habeas corpus.
1927
In Harmon v. Tyler, 273 U.S. 668 (1927), the Supreme Court
unanimously declares invalid an ordinance forbidding any Negro from
establishing a home on any property in a white community and any white
person from establishing a home in a Negro community.
1927
In Nixon v. Herndon, 273 U.S. 536 (1927), the Supreme Court strikes
down a Texas law forbidding blacks from voting in the Texas Democratic
primary. This is one of four cases brought to challenge the Texas
Democratic Party’s all-white primary. All four cases are supported by the
NAACP.
1930
The NAACP succeeds in challenging the City of Richmond v. Deans,
281 U.S. 704 (1930), which involves a Richmond zoning ordinance
that bases its segregation on the prohibition of intermarriage rather than
on color or race. The Supreme Court rules that the legal prohibition
of intermarriage is itself based on race and, as such, violates the 14th
Amendment.
1930
The NAACP protests the Supreme Court nomination of John Parker, who
officially favors laws that discriminate against African Americans. This
effort is the first among the successful protests launched by the NAACP
against Supreme Court justice nominees.
1932
Nixon v. Condon, 286 U.S. 73 (1932), decided by the Supreme Court,
finds the all-white Democratic Party primary in Texas unconstitutional.
This is one of four cases in which the NAACP challenges the Texas allwhite Democratic Party primary.
1934
The NAACP begins a campaign against employment discrimination. With
the help of other organizations, black and white, it succeeds in outlawing
discrimination in employment in most Northern and Western states.
1935
In Hollins v. State of Oklahoma, 295 U.S. 394 (1935), the Supreme
Court overturns the conviction of Jess Hollins, who was given the death
penalty for raping a white girl. The NAACP argues that Hollins did not
receive a fair trial because blacks were systematically excluded from the
jury. This establishes an important precedent that illegal jury exclusion
warrants overturning a conviction.
1936
In Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278 (1936), the Supreme Court
rules that a defendant’s confessions extracted by police violence
cannot be entered as evidence and violates the Due Process Clause.
The NAACP supports this case after learning that torture was used to
extract confessions from the defendants. The confessions were the only
evidence presented in the subsequent one-day trial.
1936
In Pearson v. Murray (a.k.a. Murray v. Maryland), 169 Md. 478, 182 A.
590 (1936), the NAACP successfully challenges the state of Maryland
on behalf of Donald Gaines Murray, who sought admission to the
University of Maryland. On January 15, 1936, the court affirms the
lower-court ruling that ordered the university to immediately integrate its
student population.
1938
NAACP counsel represents Joe Hale in Hale v. Kentucky, 303 U.S. 613
(1938), in which the Supreme Court overturns his conviction of murder
because the lower court of Kentucky had systematically excluded
African Americans from serving on the jury.
1938
Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 U.S. 337 (1938), results in
the desegregation of the University of Missouri School of Law. This
highly significant decision marks the beginning of the Supreme Court’s
reconsideration of the “separate but equal” standard made by the
Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896. The case is brought to suit by the
NAACP on behalf of Lloyd Gaines and aims to test the constitutionality of
segregation. It helps forge the legal framework for the Supreme Court’s
landmark 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education.
1939
Lane v. Wilson, 307 U.S. 268 (1939), strikes down Oklahoma’s
1916 voting registration law passed in the aftermath of Guinn v. United
States (1915). The registration law, enacted by a legislature chosen in
an election from which blacks were illegally excluded, automatically
qualified all persons who had voted in 1914. Those who had been
previously excluded from voting or had not voted in 1914 had only 12
days to register before permanently losing the right to vote. The NAACP
initiates the challenge.
1939
On April 9, 1939, after the Daughters of the American Revolution
bar Marian Anderson from performing at their Constitution Hall in
Washington, D.C., the NAACP successfully moves to have her appear at
the Lincoln Memorial, where more than 75,000 people attend the openair concert broadcast nationally by radio.
1940
In Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940), the Supreme Court
considers the extent to which police pressure resulting in a criminal
defendant’s confession violates the Due Process clause. The case
is argued by Thurgood Marshall, who represents three black men
convicted for the murder of a white man in Florida. The court rules
unanimously in favor of the defendants and overturns their convictions.
This is the first of Marshall’s many Supreme Court victories on behalf of
the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
1940
Carl Hansberry joins with the NAACP legal staff to initiate a legal
challenge against the restrictive covenants that keep blacks out of
all-white neighborhoods in Chicago. In the Supreme Court case of
Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940), the court rules in favor of
Hansberry. His daughter, Lorraine Hansberry, inspired by her family’s
legal battle against racially segregated housing laws, writes the awardwinning play Raisin in the Sun.
1940
A significant precedent is set when the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund argues the case of Alton v. Board of Education of
Norfolk, in which the Supreme Court establishes the principle that
African Americans and white teachers cannot have different salaries
based solely on race.
1941
During World War II, the NAACP leads the effort to ensure that President
Franklin D. Roosevelt orders a nondiscrimination policy in war-related
industries and federal employment. Roosevelt ultimately agrees to open
thousands of jobs to black workers when the NAACP joins forces with
labor leader A. Philip Randolph and his March on Washington movement
in 1941. President Roosevelt also agrees to set up a Fair Employment
Practices Committee (FEPC) to ensure compliance.
1943
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund wins, on behalf of
African-American parents, a disparity case regarding integration of the
schools of Hillburn, New York. The case addressed a situation in which
black children who lived in Ramapo attended the Brook School, a wood
structure with no gymnasium, library or indoor bathrooms, and white
children attended a nearby school that had a gymnasium, library and
indoor plumbing. Thurgood Marshall successfully argues the case.
1944
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund wins a major victory in
the landmark case Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944), in which the
Supreme Court rules that the “lily-white” Democratic Party primary was
unconstitutional.
1945
Kerr v. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 149 F.2d 212 (1945), argued by
Charles H. Houston on behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, creates the “Kerr Principle.” A Baltimore library
refused to admit Louise Kerr to a training program because she
was black, arguing that its patrons did not like blacks. The Supreme
Court rules in favor of Kerr. The Kerr principle forces the courts to
address when and why the state is responsible for enabling exclusive
preferences.
1946
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund wins Morgan v.
Virginia, 328 U.S. 373 (1946), in which the Supreme Court bans a state
law that enforces segregation on buses and trains that are interstate
carriers.
1947
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s diligence in arguing
the case of Patton v. Mississippi, 332 U.S. 463 (1947), pays off when
the court rules that purposeful administrative exclusion of qualified
persons from jury duty because of race or color is a violation of the Equal
Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
1947
On January 26, 1947, Thurgood Marshall and other legal scholars meet
at Howard University to discuss a strategy to fight restrictive covenants.
The group decides to use sociological and economic data to support
their argument—a strategy that will eventually be used to argue Brown v.
Board of Education.
1948
Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948), ends the enforcement of racially
restrictive covenants, a practice that barred blacks from purchasing
homes in white neighborhoods.
1948
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, representing Ada
Sipuel, wins the case Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of
Oklahoma, 332 U.S. 631 (1948). Sipuel was denied admission to the
University of Oklahoma Law School. Thurgood Marshall argues that
separating black students, no matter what the conditions, denies them
access to opportunities provided to others.
1948
On July 26, 1948, President Truman signs Executive Order 9981,
which calls for the integration of the armed forces and establishes an
advisory committee to assist in its implementation. Truman is pressured
into signing the order by the NAACP Washington Bureau, led by lobbyist
Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.
1950
Immediately following the 1944 victory of Smith v. Allwright, Harry T.
Moore, state secretary for the Florida chapter of the NAACP, organizes
the Progressive Voters League. By 1950, over 116,000 black voters are
registered in the Florida Democratic Party. This represents 31 percent of
all eligible black voters in the state, a figure that is 51 percent higher than
that of any other Southern state.
1950
The University of Oklahoma accepts George McLaurin to its graduate
program in education but separates him from other students. The
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund argues the case in
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, 339 U.S.
637 (1950). The Supreme Court rules that a public institution of higher
learning cannot provide different treatment to a student solely because
of his or her race, as doing so violates the right to equal protection as
stipulated in the 14th Amendment.
1950
Rather than admit Heman Sweatt to its law school, the state of Texas
offers to create a separate program for African Americans. Sweatt,
working with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, files the
complaint Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950). The court rules that
dividing students by race in graduate programs falls short of the legal
standard of separate but equal. Interaction among students, the court
says, is an integral part of the educational experience.
1953
The “Fighting Fund for Freedom” campaign is initiated, with the goal
of eliminating segregation and discrimination by 1963, the 100th
anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
1954
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund wins one of its
greatest legal victories in Brown vs. the Board of Education, 347 U.S.
483 (1954), which rules that segregated schools are illegal. Brown is
undoubtedly the most famous of a group of Supreme Court cases that
deal principally with the struggle of black, Latino and Indian Americans
to recover the rights of citizenship expressly given to them by the
Constitution of the United States.
1954
Responding to continued pressure from the NAACP Washington Bureau,
the secretary of defense announces on September 30, 1954, that the
last all-black military unit has been abolished.
1954
Florida ex rel. Hawkins v. Board of Control, 350 U.S. 413 (1965), is
argued by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. A small
victory is obtained when the court applies the “deliberate-speed” rule
and holds that there is no reason for delay in integrating elementary and
secondary schools.
1955
The Supreme Court case Lucy v. Adams, 350 U.S. 1 (1955),
successfully establishes the right of all citizens to be accepted as
students at the University of Alabama. The NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund argues the case on behalf of Autherine Lucy and Polly
Anne Myers, who were refused admission to the University of Alabama
solely because of their race or color.
1955
NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins backs a proposal suggested
by Dr. T.R.M. Howard of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, who heads the
Regional Council of Negro Leadership, a leading civil rights organization
in the state. Under the plan, black businesses and voluntary associations
shift their accounts to the black-owned Tri-State Bank of Memphis,
Tennessee. By the end of 1955, about $280,000 has been deposited
in Tri-State for this purpose. The money enables Tri-State to extend loans
to credit-worthy blacks who were denied loans by white banks.
1955
NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a segregated
bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest helps galvanize the largest civil
rights movement in U.S. history, with efforts of the NAACP and other
black organizations.
1955
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund begins to apply the
Brown principle in other areas. In Holmes v. Atlanta, 350 U.S. 879
(1955), Thurgood Marshall argues before the Supreme Court and is
successful in desegregating public recreational facilities.
1956
In response to Rosa Parks’s arrest, the Montgomery black community
launches a bus boycott while local attorneys, along with NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund counsels as consultants, challenge the
city ordinance in Gayle v. Browder, 352 U.S. 903 (1956). In June, the
Court rules that segregated buses in Montgomery are unconstitutional,
officially ending the boycott.
1956
South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. v. Flemming, 351 U.S. 901 (1956),
rules that the “separate but equal” doctrine can no longer be safely
followed as a correct statement of the law. The NAACP Legal and
Educational Fund defends the suit.
1957
Local NAACP leaders Daisy and L.C. Bates direct the strategy for
implementing the Supreme Court’s desegregation orders in Little Rock,
Arkansas.
1957
A demonstration is planned on the third anniversary of Brown v.
Board of Education to urge the government to stop the obstruction
of desegregation at local and state levels. NAACP leaders and other
organizers gain experience as the march lays the foundation for further,
larger demonstrations in Washington, D.C., for the civil rights movement,
including the 1963 March on Washington. The demonstration also
pressures President Dwight D. Eisenhower to order the National Guard
to Little Rock to assist in the desegregation of Central High School.
1957
The NAACP Washington Bureau, led by lobbyist Clarence M. Mitchell,
Jr., wages a tireless campaign on Capitol Hill to secure the passage of a
comprehensive series of civil rights laws. The first bill directly related to
these efforts is the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation
enacted by Congress since Reconstruction. The goal of the act is to
ensure that all African Americans can exercise their right to vote.
1958
On June 30, 1958, the Supreme Court rules in , 357 U.S. 449 (1958),
that the NAACP has the constitutional right of freedom of assembly to
keep its membership a secret.
1960
In Greensboro, North Carolina, members of the NAACP Youth Council
launch a series of nonviolent sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. These
protests eventually lead to more than 60 stores officially desegregating
their counters. Student sit-ins are effective throughout the Deep South
in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries and other public
facilities.
1960
The 1960 Civil Rights Act introduces penalties to be levied against
anybody who obstructs someone’s attempt to register to vote or
someone’s attempt to actually vote. A Civil Rights Commission is
created, thanks in part to the efforts by the NAACP.
1963
NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins helps to organize and is a
speaker at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It is a great
success with an estimated crowd of over 250,000. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., is the final speaker and delivers his famous “I Have a Dream”
speech.
1963
Lobbying efforts by the NAACP pressures President Lyndon B. Johnson
to sign the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.
1964
The NAACP Washington Bureau is instrumental in lobbying Congress
to pass the 24th Amendment abolishing the poll tax, which originally
had been instituted in 11 Southern states after Reconstruction to
make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. On January 23, 1964, the 24th
Amendment is signed into law.
1964
With continued pressure from the NAACP, President Johnson signs
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination
of all kinds based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The
law also provides the federal government with the power to enforce
desegregation.
1964
The Supreme Court ends the eight-year effort of Alabama officials to ban
NAACP activities.
1965
On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of
1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy
tests, poll taxes and other requirements used to restrict black voting are
made illegal. The act establishes extensive federal oversight of elections
administration and stipulates that states with a history of discriminatory
voting cannot implement any change affecting voting without first
obtaining federal approval. The NAACP is instrumental in lobbying
Congress to get this act signed into law.
1965
Despite threats of violence, the NAACP manages to register more than
80,000 voters in the Old South.
1965
Amid increasing violence, as African Americans become restless for
change, the NAACP steps up pressure on President Johnson. As a
result, on September 24, 1965, President Johnson asserts that civil
rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination and issues
Executive Order 11246, which enforces affirmative action for the first
time. It requires government contractors to “take affirmative action”
toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and
employment.
1975
On August 6, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signs H.R. 6219,
amending and extending certain provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights
Act. This is the culmination a two-year effort by the NAACP Washington
Bureau and cooperating organizations.
1978
Founded by author and journalist Vernon Jarrett, the Afro-Academic,
Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics is one of the NAACP’s
most successful youth initiatives. ACT-SO is a yearlong enrichment
program designed to recruit, stimulate and encourage high academic
and cultural achievement among African-American high school students.
Community and business leaders volunteer as mentors and coaches to
promote academic and artistic excellence. More than 260,000 young
people have benefited from initiative since its inception.
1979
The NAACP initiates the first bill ever signed by a governor that allows
voter registration in high schools. Soon after, 24 states follow suit.
1981
The NAACP leads the effort to extend the Voting Rights Act for another
25 years.
1982
Through its protests and the support of the Supreme Court, the NAACP
prevents President Ronald Reagan from giving a tax break to racially
segregated Bob Jones University.
1985
The NAACP leads a massive anti-apartheid rally in New York. The march
comes on the fifth and final day of the NAACP national convention, a day
in which Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Randall Robinson,
an anti-apartheid activist, call for an end to virtually all trade between the
United States and South Africa and total divestiture by U.S. businesses
operating in South Africa.
1987
The NAACP successfully launches a campaign to defeat the nomination
of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. As a result, he garners
the highest negative vote ever recorded for a Supreme Court nominee.
1968
On April 11, 1968, President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing.
The NAACP wages an energetic fight to secure the passage of this bill.
1990
When avowed racist and former Klan leader David Duke runs for
the United States Senate in Louisiana, the NAACP launches a voter
registration campaign that yields a 76 percent turnout of black voters
to defeat Duke.
1969
The NAACP files a complaint with the Federal Communication
Commission in 1955 stating that the local television station, WLBT,
presented the news in a racially biased manner. The FCC ultimately
revokes WLBT’s broadcast license in 1969, marking it as the only
time in the FCC’s history that a television station’s license is revoked
because of racial bias in programming.
1992
The NAACP Fair Share Program establishes Community Economic
Development Resource Centers in five U.S. states in order to help
economically depressed black neighborhoods help themselves. The
program provides information on how to start businesses and also
finances businesses after first ascertaining the needs and wants of the
community. The centers are evaluated regularly to monitor progress.
1970
The NAACP successfully presses Congress to extend Section 5 of
the Voting Rights Act for five years. Section 5 focuses on the use of
discriminatory tests and other devices designed to exclude certain
individuals from the voting process. These extensions require that
jurisdictions with a history of illegal discrimination obtain permission from
either the Justice Department or a panel of federal district court judges
before changing any voting practices.
1993
Congress passes the National Voter Registration Act, also known as
the “Motor Voter Act.” This legislation makes registration uniform and
accessible, particularly for minority and low-income voters. It requires
that states allow voter registration by mail and also requires that states
give voters the opportunity to register at other state agencies, such as
driver’s license bureaus, welfare offices and unemployment agencies.
1971
The NAACP’s press for desegregation of schools and public facilities
throughout the country results in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971). This is an important Supreme
Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in
public schools. The court holds that busing is an appropriate remedy
for the perceived problem of racial imbalance among schools, even
where the imbalance resulted from the selection of students based
on geographic proximity to the school, rather than from deliberate
assignment based on race. This is done to ensure the schools will be
properly integrated and that all students will receive equal education
opportunities regardless of their race.
1997
In response to increased violence among African-American youth, the
NAACP initiates the “Stop The Violence, Start the Love” campaign.
1999
NAACP president Kweisi Mfume demands that television networks end
what he calls the virtual “whitewash” of television programming that holds
down the number of African Americans who work in the TV industry. In
quick order, the major networks ink agreements with the NAACP that
commit them to doing a better job of employing black actors, producers,
directors and writers and contracting with black suppliers.
2000
On January 17, 2000, the NAACP organizes a march in Columbia, South
Carolina, to protest the flying of the Confederate Battle Flag. The march
is attended by more than 50,000, and the flag is removed on July 1.
2000
The NAACP launches a major get-out-the-vote campaign in the 2000
U.S. presidential election. Approximately 10.5 million African Americans
cast their ballot in the election, 1 million more than four years before.
2001
The Adam’s Mark hotel chain agrees to pay $1.1 million to settle
allegations that it discriminated against black guests during a 1999 black
college reunion in Florida. The settlement ends a boycott by the NAACP
and legal action by the hotel chain against those who canceled contracts
as part of the boycott.
2002
NAACP lobbies Congress to pass the Help America to Vote Act. This
legislation seeks to improve the administration of federal elections by
providing assistance with the administration of certain federal election
laws and programs.
2005
With a long history of promoting quality education, the NAACP is among
more than 800 educators, corporate leaders and government officials
honored for outstanding contributions in educating youth by the National
Education Association.
2005
Lawyers of the NAACP file a motion to prevent Myrtle Beach from
changing traffic management plans between two events, one with black
participants and one white participants, and treating the two groups of
visitors differently. On May 9, 2005, the U.S. District Court in South
Carolina agrees with the NAACP that the city of Myrtle Beach must stop
discriminating against African-American visitors.
2005
The NAACP is instrumental in allowing Rosa Parks to make history even
in death. Through NAACP efforts, she is permitted to lie in honor in the
Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Parks is the first woman, the second African
American and one of only 30 Americans ever honored with the pomp
and ritual of a Capitol Rotunda viewing.
2005
The NAACP National Education Department declares victory with the
Senate decision to repeal the Florida Class Size Reduction Amendment.
By defeating this proposed legislation, the NAACP and a bipartisan
coalition of legislators increase the likelihood that more students,
regardless of race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, will have an
opportunity to meet the state’s educational achievement benchmarks.
2006
The NAACP leads several thousand members, politicians and
entertainers in the 2005 “Keep the Vote Alive” march to commemorate
the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to mobilize support for
extension of portions of the act scheduled to expire in 2007. Their efforts
succeed on July 21, 2006, when President George W. Bush signs the
Voting Rights Act extension.
2006
The NAACP unites with media companies CBS and NBC to create its
Master Degree Writing Fellowships. The fellowship is awarded each year
to a graduate student whose work offers a fresh perspective on ways
in which minorities are represented. The fellowships provide students
with financial assistance in their studies and mentoring throughout their
academic program.
2007
After much diligent work by the NAACP North Carolina State
Conference, 21-year-old James Johnson will not face murder charges
in connection with the death of a white female classmate following
their graduation from a high school in 2004. Johnson spent more than
three years in a North Carolina jail awaiting trial. No physical evidence,
including two DNA tests, ties Johnson to the crime.
2007
In a bipartisan show of force, the Senate unanimously passes the Sudan
Accountability and Divestment Act, which will authorize state and local
governments to divest from companies that support the Khartoum
government at the expense of marginalized populations in Sudan and
prohibit federal contracts with those companies. The NAACP, together
with Darfur activists, has been aggressively pushing this important
legislation.
2008
The NAACP’s century-long fight for social and economic justice bears
fruit when Barack Obama becomes the first African-American president
of the United States. The contributions of the NAACP to make this
historical election possible is acknowledged by President Obama, who
states, “Because of their work…we as a nation were able to take the
dramatic steps we have in recent history.”
2009
After decades of NAACP protest, the Rockefeller Drug Law is repealed
by New York state officials. The repeal will remove the mandatory
minimum prison sentences, expand drug treatment programs and allow
first-time nonviolent offenders to be diverted to treatment instead of
prison.
2009
President Obama proposes to Congress a budget designed to make
higher education both more affordable and more accessible. Thanks to
the hard work of thousands of young people, including members of the
NAACP Youth and College Division, the initial budget proposal is passed
in both the House and the Senate.