The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
was founded in 1909 in New York City by a group of bi-racial activists.
Originally called the National Negro Committee, it is the nation's
oldest civil rights organization. One often-overlooked aspect of the NAACP's history is that the Jewish community contributed hugely to the NAACP's founding and continued financing.United in its opposition to the preaching of Booker T. Washington, who urged blacks
to accept segregation, the NAACP first sought to make whites aware of
the need for racial equality. The organization launched a program of speech making, lobbying, and publicizing the issue of racial
discrimination and inequality in housing, education, employment, voting,
and transportation. It also launched the Crisis, a magazine edited for 25 years by the black intellectual and leader, W.E.B. DuBois.
It appealed to the Supreme Court
to rule as unconstitutional several laws passed by Southern states,
and, beginning in 1915, won several important judgments regarding
housing and voting rights.
