Jim Crow Era - Key Post

 

Founding of the NAACP 

    The NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 and is America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. The NAACP pledged to promote equality of rights and eradicate race prejudice among citizens of the United States. With more than 500,000 members, the NAACP works locally and nationally to “ensure political, educational, social, and economic equality for all, and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

    The NAACP aimed to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery, provide equal protection of the law, and the right for all men to vote, respectively. They helped to advance the interest of colored citizens; to secure for them impartial suffrage; and to increase their opportunities for securing justice in the courts, education for their children, employment according to their ability, and complete equality before the law.

                           

    The NAACP focused on five major areas from 1920s to 1950s: anti-lynching legislation, voter participation, employment, due process under the law, and education. The NAACP pursued this mission through a variety of tactics including legal action, lobbying, peaceful protest, and publicity. At yearly conventions in different cities around the country, they drew attention to regional needs and interests and encouraged nationwide participation.

    A prominent member to recognize here is Thurgood Marshall, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases, which he argued before the Supreme Court. One being, reaching a finale in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional.

 History of the UNCF

The UNCF or The United Negro College Fund was founded on April 25th, 1944, by Dr. Frederick D. Patterson. In response to a serious need for higher education opportunities for African American students. Dr. Patterson and presidents of the member colleges of the Fund began meeting in 1946 at Holly Knoll. Patterson had established Holly Knoll Associates in 1945 to serve as a conference center for black educators. Their meetings contributed to the growth and reputation of the UNCF, which aids more than 40 historically black colleges.

The UNCF helps by giving money to colleges that mainly serve minority students and by giving scholarships to these students. UNCF gets money from companies and people who want to help minority students get a good education. They've helped a lot of people become successful by giving them the chance to go to college, including civil rights leader Vernon Jordan and countless other professionals, leaders, and scholars.

Between its founding in 1944 and 1970, the fundraising efforts of the UNCF were directed primarily by and toward influential whites such as John Rockefeller Jr., who became chairman and sat on its board until his death in 1960. He contributed $5,250,000 to the fund during his lifetime.

In 1970, with the selection of Vernon Jordan, African Americans did gain full control of the UNCF. The arrival of Jordan as president led to a dramatic increase in direct appeals to black Americans including especially graduates of the member colleges.