By Erick Johnson

EDITOR’S NOTE:The Chicago Crusader last week welcomed the NAACP’s 117^th convention to Chicago with this special digital platform edition that celebrates its history, achievements and the people behind America’s oldest civil rights organization.

When the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) rolled into The Chicago last week for its 117^th annual convention, it marked a moment of history in a city where one of its founders lived and a state that launched the organization after a deadly race riot in Springfield, IL destroyed Black neighborhoods and killed two innocent Black men.

From Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement to modern times, the NAACP has endured political attacks and critics who believed the organization had lost its relevance in modern times. Today however, the NAACP is experiencing renewed energy as it leads and defends Black America in a political climate that threatens to roll back hard-fought civil rights. 

From Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement to modern times, the NAACP has endured political attacks and critics who believed the organization had lost its relevance in modern times. Today however, the NAACP is experiencing renewed energy as it leads and defends Black America in a political climate that threatens to roll back hard-fought civil rights. 

The NAACP has a storied and intense history, one rich with landmark Supreme Court victories, triumphs and assassinations. Its past leaders have been harassed, attacked, bombed, jailed and murdered.

Poet and Author James Weldon Johnson, who wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was the organization’s first executive secretary. Hair care magnate S.B. Fuller, who founded Fuller Products, and was once owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier and New York Age, served as president of South Side Chicago chapter of the NAACP.  The real estate mogul Dempsey Travis once served as president of the Chicago chapter of the NAACP.

In the modern times, decades after the Civil Rights Movement ended, complacency and voters apathy have been concerns as many Blacks assimilate into society and live the American Dream. Critics say NAACP’s rich past and sacrifices have been forgotten or faded as organizations like Black Lives Matter make headlines and appeal to younger generations. 

However, no other civil rights organization has had as much impact as the NAACP. 

In the face of injustice and segregation, the organization’s leaders have forged stories of sacrifice, courage and heroism at a time when Blacks in America were denied basic rights as citizens.On February 12, 1909, the NAACP was founded. In Fitting sense, the organization formed during a month that would later become Black History Month. Ida B. Wells, the late journalist, activist and suffragist who lived and died in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, helped establish the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. On July 18, the organization will hold its 117th convention in Chicago at a time when issues that Wells fought against have been taken up the NAACP.

How the NAACP began is a story in itself.

At the time, over 5 percent of Springfield’s 47,000 residents were Black. Relations were becoming more strained in large cities such as Chicago and New York where Blacks were competing with whites in the same job market.  But in Springfield, IL, racial tensions simmered in a city located in region in the Prairie State that felt more like the South than the North for Black residents. 

On August 13, 1908, Mabel Hallam, a white woman, accused George Richardson, a Black man, of rape. Another Black man, Joe James, was accused of murdering Clergy Ballard, a white man. The two Black men sat in a county jail where a large white mob seeking to take matters into their own hands, demanded their release.

The county sheriff, with the help of Harry Loper, a white restaurant owner, secretly transported the men to Bloomington, Illinois. When the white mob learned of their relocation, days of rioting erupted. 

The mob, consisting of thousands of white residents, destroyed Black homes and businesses, and lynched Scott Burton and William Donegan, two prominent Black men in Springfield’s Black community. The mob also targeted businesses owned by Jewish Americans and other white residents sympathetic to the Black community. 

African Americans near some of the homes burned during the race riot in Springfield, Ill., in August 1908. (Photo Courtesy of Sangamon Valley Collection / Lincoln Library)

Black businesses suffered damages estimated at $100,000 in 1908 dollars, the equivalent of over $3 million today. 

After nearly three days of violence, Illinois Governor, Charles Deneen called the Illinois National Guard to bring the riots under control. The nation was shocked by the racial violence that occurred and the irony of it happening in the hometown of President Abraham Lincoln. About 150 participants were arrested. However, few were ever convicted of a crime.

Joe James was eventually tried, convicted and hanged for the murder of Clergy Ballard. George Richardson was set free after Hallam recanted her story.

Appalled by the violence, a group of progressive white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard (both the descendants of famous abolitionists), William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz held a meeting to discuss racial justice.

According to the U.S. Library of Congress, the group gathered in Walling’s New York City apartment to discuss proposals for an organization that would advocate the civil and political rights of African Americans. Walling, Mary White Ovington, and Henry Moskowitz were the nucleus of the group. 

At the meeting, the group issued a “The Call” to prominent community leaders. 

Written by Oswald Garrison Villard, “The Call” assessed the progress of race relations since the Emancipation Proclamation. It ended with an appeal to “all believers in democracy to join in a national conference for the discussion of present evils, the voicing of protests, and the renewal of the struggle for civil and political liberty.” “The Call” was sent to prominent white and Black Americans for endorsement. 

Written by Oswald Garrison Villard, “The Call” assessed the progress of race relations since the Emancipation Proclamation. It ended with an appeal to “all believers in democracy to join in a national conference for the discussion of present evils, the voicing of protests, and the renewal of the struggle for civil and political liberty.”

Among the 60 signers of the call were Jane Addams, John Dewey, W.E.B. Dubois, Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Francis J. Grimke, and Ray Stannard Baker.

On February 12, 1909, the NAACP was established. Today the anniversary is celebrated as Founder’s Day during Black History Month.

In 2024, President Joe Biden declared the site of the riot a National Monument that’s now managed by the National Park Service. The site includes historic markers, a mural and walking tour that captures the events that led to the deadly riot. It also includes the individuals who were part of the establishment of the NAACP, an organization with a storied history that includes campaigns against the film “The Birth of a Nation” and voter suppression Supreme Court cases that the NAACP won.

Since its founding, the NAACP forged a history of Fighting against racism with public campaigns and legal battles that led to several landmark Supreme Court decisions. 

NAACP OPPOSES “THE BIRTH OF A NATION” FILM

In 1915, the NAACP launched a nationwide campaign opposing the screening of film maker D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of Nation” in the White House under President Woodrow Wilson. 

The NAACP Board of Directors considered “The Birth of a Nation” racist propaganda in its depiction of the Black race being inferior to whites. The Board appealed to government officials to suppress the film and stop it from being shown in theaters. The campaign did not stop whites from seeing the film in record numbers, but in some cities the most offensive scenes were cut and in others the entire film was banned.

NAACP CONSIDERS NAME CHANGE

According to the Library of Congress, The NAACP hired Royal Nash, a thought the name of the NAACP WAS too cumbersome.  He suggested other names for the NAACP in the “spirit of the New Abolitionists,” such as “The Garrison Association,” “The Wendell Phillips Association,” (after abolitionist whose namesake is Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago) and “The Lincoln Association.”  No action was taken after Nash left the NAACP in 1917 to join the army.

NAACP PROTEST POLICE BRUTALITY, EAST ST. LOUIS, IL

On July 1, 1917, two white police officers were killed in East St. Louis, Illinois in an altercation caused when marauders attacked Black homes. The incident sparked a race riot on July 2, which ended with forty-eight killed, hundreds injured, and thousands of Blacks fleeing the city when their homes were burned. The police and state militia did little to prevent the carnage. On July 28, the NAACP protested with a silent march of  10,000 Black men, women, and children down New York’s Fifth Avenue. The participants marched  behind a row of drummers carrying banners calling for justice and equal rights. 

Throughout the 1940s, the NAACP saw enormous growth in membership, recording roughly 600,000 members by 1946. It continued to act as a legislative and legal advocate, and for an end to state-mandated segregation.

ROSA PARKS JOINS NAACP AS A SECRETARY

In 1943 a woman named Rosa Parks from Tuskegee, Alabama began working as a secretary for the NAACP chapter in Montgomery after she saw a picture of classmate Johnnie Carr at one of the organization’s meetings, according to the book, “The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks,” by Jeanne Theoharis.

Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give her seat to a white passenger, she became heavily involved in the NAACP. 

At the time, Parks led the youth division at the Montgomery branch of NAACP in Alabama. As a result of her defiance of not giving up her seat, Parks was arrested and found guilty of disorderly conduct. Her refusal led to the historic 381 Bus Boycott of the bus system in Montgomery. 

In the court, the NAACP joined Park’s appeal, a case that languished in the Alabama court system. Segregation on public buses eventually ended in 1956 after a Supreme Court ruling declared it unconstitutional in Browder v. Gayle. Parks was not included as a plaintiff in the decision since her case was still pending in the state court.

During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the NAACP provided lawyers and paid legal costs of court battles. NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins personally encouraged branches to fundraise for the Montgomery Improvement Association. In a May 1, 1956 letter, King thanked Wilkins, saying, “This deep spirit of cooperation from the NAACP will give us renewed courage and vigor to carry on.”

During the Civil Rights Movement, the NAACP lead sit-ins at segregated restaurants in the South and voter registration drives. The NAACP partnered with other civil rights organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Urban League. The NAACP along with Martin Luther King, Jr. lobbied President Lyndon B. Johnson to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In the Emmett Till case after his death in 1955, the NAACP had field secretaries like Evers work undercover in the Mississippi Delta to gather information and locate witnesses for the prosecution. The organization also had Mamie Till-Mobley go on speaking tours as part of a fundraiser. 

For two years, the late legendary real estate mogul Dempsey Travis was the president of the NAACP Chicago Chapter and participated in several presidential administrations including President Lyndon Johnson’s 1966 Civil Rights Meetings, President Richard Nixon’s Housing Task Force and President Gerald Ford’s Presidential Task Force on Urban Renewal. As NAACP president of the Chicago Chapter, Demsey coordinated Martin Luther King Jr.’s first civil rights march in Chicago on July 24, 1960, according to City Colleges of Chicago.

During her 15-year career with the NAACP from 1938 to 1953, Ella Baker risen to become the organization’s highest-ranking woman. At a time when the organization lacked woman leaders, Baker pushed the NAACP to focus more on its local chapters, which she believed was its lifeblood. She opposed elitism among the ranks and slept in homes and socialized with ordinary people. She later worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), headed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but was frustrated with the male hierarchy of the organization. She organized a meeting at Shaw University in April 1960 that led to the formation of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). 

According to Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Research and Institute, in the 1960’s the NAACP steadily lost membership during the Civil Rights Movement, and the political climate under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford continued to hurt the organization. In 1986 the NAACP moved its headquarters from New York to Baltimore, where it slowly recovered and remains today. 

NAACP IMAGE AWARDS CREATED

In 1967, Toni Vaz (or Adella Elitha Antonia Thomas), Hollywood’s first Black stuntwoman and member of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood chapter of the NAACP, created the NAACP Image Awards. Vaz wanted a better image of Black actors. The president of NAACP Beverly Hills-Hollywood chapter liked the idea but couldn’t find any volunteers.

Vaz contacted Sammy Davis, Jr. who hosted the first meeting of the NAACP Beverly Hills-Hollywood chapter in his home. Sidney Poitier and Ivan Dixon also helped. The first NAACP Image Awards was held at the Beverly Hills Hilton on August 13, 1967. The NAACP Image Awards remains today and is held in February during Black History Month.

In 2019, the NAACP called for the censorship of all Dr. Seuss books in public schools and libraries because of images that are “steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures and harmful stereotypes such as portraying Jewish people with “oversized noses and Jewish merchants on a football field with “Quarterback Mosenblum” refusing to relinquish the ball until a bargain price had been established,” or frequently portraying Africans and African Americans as monkeys and cannibals “often holding spears, surrounded by flies, and wearing grass skirts” and in Judge magazine and College Humor, he published over a dozen cartoons depicting Black people as monkeys and consistently captioned them as “niggers.”

In response, Dr. Seuss enterprises pulled six books from the shelves. Today, the NAACP has more than 2,200 local chapters across America. The organization is experiencing renewed energy as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court, the MAGA Republicans and President Donald Trump continue to attack voting rights and other civil rights of Blacks and minorities. 

Recently, Patriot Front, a group of 400 white supremacists, marched in Washington and attended Trump’s July 4 festivities that celebrated America’s 250th birthday. A photo on social media captured a Black woman surrounded by white supremacists wearing masks as she sat on a bus.

The theme for this year’s convention July 18 at Chicago’s McCormick Place is “We the People” and will focus on Constitutional rights in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that led to elimination of Black Congressional Districts in Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee. 

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said last month at a press conference said the convention will educate individuals, providing information on citizens’ constitutional rights.

  “We the People starts the preamble to the constitution, the constitution that says equal protection under the law should be afforded to every citizen and that every human being has a right to due process,” Johnson said.

  “So, we look forward to coming to Chicago because we are the people. We are people who have a history of fighting to ensure this democracy albeit imperfect, perfect itself over time.”

At the convention, the NAACP will honor Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, with its Spingarn Medal, awarded annually to an African American whose achievements reflect the highest levels of excellence across honorable fields.

First presented in 1915 to biologist Ernest Everett Just, the medal has recognized individuals whose work has shaped the nation and the world. In addition to Medgar Evers, other past recipients of the Spingarn Medal Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Toni Morrison, Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, Congressman James E. Clyburn, Misty Copeland, Maya Angelou, and Thurgood Marshall. 

For nearly 50 years, Rev. Dr. Brown served as pastor of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, extending his ministry beyond the pulpit through advocacy for economic justice, educational equity, criminal justice reform, and global human rights. 

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