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 - 7. The N.A.A.C.P. National Office
<< 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.
Chapter 39. Improvement and Protest Organizations 827
prejudiced against Negroes, the National Office rallies the Branches to political
action against him. In this way it has defeated for re-election many politicians guilty
of race bias.®®
The Association has successfully fought the appointment or election to
public office of persons known to be prejudiced against Negroes.®^
The Association puts its trust in publicity. A large part of the activity
of the National Office is in the nature of educational propaganda. It not
only publishes The Crisis and the NAA.C.P. Bulletiny but also a great
many pamphlets, brochures and books on various aspects of the Negro
problem. The officers of the National Office strive to present their case to
the white public also through articles in outstanding national periodicals.
The National Office provides data for research work on the Negro problem
and for political work even when it is carried on outside the Association.
From its staff or from a circle of active sympathizers, it furnishes speakers
for important meetings. The officers of the Association travel widely on
lecture tours all over the country. Most of the officers have traveled and
lectured abroad, displaying the American Negro case to a world audience.
Du Bois represented the Association as a lobbyist at the Versailles Peace
Conference ^^in order to interpret to the Peace delegates the interests of the
Negro peoples of the world.”®^ The National Office has its own press serv-
ice, which is used by the Negro press" and, occasionally, also by liberal
white magazines and newspapers. In its publicity the National Office has a
militant and challenging tone but is ordinarily—as far as the present
author has been able to check during the course of this study—scrupulously
correct in statements of fact.
In a broader sense, all the work of the Association is centered around
creating favorable publicity for the Negro, people and winning a hearing
for their grievances from the general American public. Publicity is, there-
fore, an important aspect of all its moves. It succeeds rather well in reach-
ing the alert strata of the Negro people—mainly through Negro news-
papers—but it attempts also to reach the white public. There it is less suc-
cessful, but more successful than any other agency. Its unceasing efforts are
based upon the typical American democratic trust in the righteousness of
the common man:
... we must win the American public to want this right for us. They are a just
people and if we could by education get them to see how silly and needlessly cruel
it is to deny a person food and shelter, they would help enforce the law.®®
In its lobbying the National Office pretends with grace to represent the
NegropeopleMdisnotahiidofmskingthreatsbyrekrringto theNegro
vote. When we consider the weakness of its local branches and the general
rivalry and apathy in the Negro communities, this appears to be largely
• See Chapter 42.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
