History of Naacp and The Issues Solved

The History Behind the NAACP

The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People is exactly what it says it is. It is a civil rights movement, established in 1909, to ensure the social, educational, economic equality, and political rights of everyone and to get rid of racial discrimination.

Though many issues were solved by the NAACP, it had one main goal that branched off to many achievements. As said in the first paragraph, its main goal was equality for all people. Of course, this was focused on racial equality more than anything. In their article, NAACP, Eric Foner and John A. Garraty discuss the early drives that the NAACP tried to carry out. “…NAACP focused on legal strategies designed to confront the critical civil rights issues of the day. They called for federal anti-lynching laws and coordinated a series of challenges to state-sponsored segregation in public schools, an effort that led to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ to be unconstitutional.” Eric and John not only described many achievements for the NAACP but how they went about achieving those missions. Other important goals for the NAACP range from establishing strong communities to building reforms. In fact, the group made nine reforms to advance home ownership. Number one was to ensure non-discriminatory lending. Number two was to ensure a strong and autonomous consumer financial protection bureau. The third is support the federal role in the secondary mortgage market that also serves to protect the interests of all homebuyers. Number four is support risk retention while adopting a qualified residential mortgage rule that does not decrease homeownership opportunities. Number five is to adopt a qualified mortgage definition that will not shut out most prospective minority homeowners. Number six is to provide continued and increased funding for certified housing counselors. Number seven is more assistance to help those persons devastated by the foreclosure crisis. Number eight is any institution handling your money must increase mortgage principal reductions tied to current home values. Last but not least, number nine is to enhance federal efforts to end housing discrimination. I got this information from a copy of the original copy of The NAACP’s Nine Reforms to Advance Home Ownership. This group spread the promotion of civil rights and was a key role in the ending of discrimination and segregation in the United States.

The NAACP had many efficient tactics to carrying out what they wanted in the fastest way possible. The members in this association would never back down from a challenge, giving them numerous victories in many areas. Etta Ward supports this statement in her article, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “The NAACP’s political advocacy has garnered numerous victories such as the passing of anti-lynching laws in some states and the Brown vs. Board of Education case, making education segregation unlawful, and continues to influence the issues of social and racial injustices.” Etta not only supports my claim, but she gives examples to seal the deal. The NAACP uses the constitution against its enemies and makes sure to have the smartest people around to back up and prove their point and why it is valid. These grow to be much larger things, like the Brown v. Board of Education. It had such success making alliances between both black and white people; this represented a wide array of views and political standpoints. If you can imagen an army of one-sided people versus an army of people who think outside the box, each in their own different way, you will see that the army with the stronger thinking power will outlast the one-sided army ten out of ten times. The NAACP was the army with the outstanding capability to think, this is the reasoning behind their many victories resulting in the gain of equality and the end of segregation.

It is easy to say that the NAACP has had some great accomplishments. The Brown v. Board of Education is considered the biggest court cases during the civil rights era. This was the start of the end of public and legal segregation. There were also a number of Civil Rights Acts passed in support of the efforts to stop segregation. Act of 1860 protects colored people from discrimination due to race. The Act of 1871 protected colored people from terrorist groups, such as the Klu Klux Klan. The Act of 1875 prohibited the denying of service to colored people due to their race. Multiple Acts were put in place to fill all loopholes preventing colored people to vote due to their race. All these acts allowed colored people to be active in political events and have a say in their country. The Montgomery Bus Boycott got the NAACP into a lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decision was with the NAACP, giving them more and more confidence as time goes on. The Sit-in Movement allowed thousands of students to protest without violence, thanks to the first four who decided to take action.

The NAACP had many enemies and few, to none, were organized. Obviously, the Klu Klux Klan had many issues with the success of the NAACP but at that point, there were laws to stop them from acting on it. Just because there were laws, did not mean that the KKK didn’t react, it was simply illegal when they did.