NAACP PURSUING LIBERTY IN THE FACE OF INJUSTICE

Homer Beecher Williams—“H.B

Founded Feb. 12. 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, campaigning for equal opportunity and conducting voter mobilization.

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NAACP PURSUING LIBERTY IN THE FACE OF INJUSTICE

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WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN: Mildred Bond Roxborough Member since 1937

Membership in the NAACP means joining the leading civil rights organization in the nation. By lending their names and their energy to the NAACP, our members stand at the forefront of change. We want you to become a part of a legacy dedicated to social justice and equality for all people.

Founding group
The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. Appalled at the violence that was committed against blacks, a group of white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard, both the descendants of abolitionists, William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Lincoln's birth.