Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 39. Negro Improvement and Protest Organizations - 5. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
820 An American Dilemma
At this first conference a committee of forty was formed to carry on the
work. Mass meetings were held, pamphlets distributed, and memberships
solicited. The following year, at a second conference, a merger was consum-
mated of the forces of the Negro liberals of the Niagara Movement ® and
of the white liberals of Abolitionist traditions. Out of these two groups the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was formed.
Moorfield Storey of Boston was elected the first president. He and all
other officers of the new organization were white, except Du Bois, who was
to become the salaried Director of Publicity and Research. The platform
adopted was practically identical with that of the Niagara Movement. It
was at the time considered extremely radical.’® ^^Thus,” comments Bunche,
^^the N.A.A.C.P., propelled by dominant white hands, embarked upon the
civil liberties course that the Negro-inspired Niagara Movement had
futilely tried to navigate.”^® From the beginning Du Bois gave the tone to
the new organization’s activity. By 1914 there were thirteen Negro mem-
bers on the Board of Directors, most of whom were veterans of the Niagara
Movement. In 1910 the publication of the organization’s journal. The
Crisis^ began and it soon became popular.
The long-run objective of the organization has always been to win full
equality for the Negro as an American citizen. The specific objectives can
best be presented by the following citation from its program as announced
in 1940:
1. Anti-lynching legislation.
2. Legislation to end peonage and debt slavery among the sharecroppers and tenant
farmers of the South.
3. Enfranchisement of the Negro in the South.
4. Abolition of injustices in legal procedure, particularly criminal procedure, based
solely upon color or race.
5. Equitable distribution of funds for public education.
6. Abolition of segregation, discrimination, insult, and humiliation based on race or
color.
7. Equality of opportunity to work in all fields with equal pay for equal work.
8. Abolition of discrimination against Negroes in the right to collective bargaining
through membership in organized labor unions.*®
The N.A.A.C.P. works through the National Office in New York City
and through branches or local associations in cities everywhere in the
country.*^ The National Office determines the policy of the organization
and supervises the work of the branches.^^ The National Office, including
The Crisis
y
employs 13 salaried executive officers and 17 other paid em-
ployees. All are Negroes. The president of the Association has always
been a white man-, at present he is Arthur ’B. Spingarn, who succeeded his
brother^ the late Joel E. Sping;arn. The Bp^reJ of Pirpetors JBWV
^ Chapve^ 35, Section 4..
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
