NAACP Founded
February 12, 1909 · 20th Century
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded on February 12, 1909 — the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth — in New York City. Organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, and white progressives including Oswald Garrison Villard, the NAACP emerged as a direct response to the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. It became the primary legal and political organization challenging segregation, lynching, and disenfranchisement throughout the twentieth century.
Key Figures
W.E.B. Du BoisIda B. WellsMary Church TerrellBooker T. Washington
Locations
New York City
Topics
civil rightssegregationUSAafrican american historyracismNAACPactivism
Connected Events — 6 Connections
The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall, spent decades building the litigation strategy that culminated in Brown v Board of Education, systematically challenging segregation case by case through the federal courts Brown v Board of Education
The NAACP was founded in 1909 specifically to challenge Plessy's "separate but equal" doctrine through litigation, a strategy that culminated in Brown v Board 45 years later Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court Decision
Founded in direct response to legal failures beginning with Civil Rights Cases of 1883
Organized in coalition with March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Created urban political base that strengthened The Great Migration Begins
Largest civil rights organization founded since Black Lives Matter Founded
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