The Community Times Dispatch

On Friday November 20, 2009 the Charleston Branch of the NAACP, founded in 1917 celebrated its 93rd Annual Freedom Fund Banquet at the Performing Arts Center in North Charleston, SC. The branch which holds claim to being the oldest in the state of SC, is under the direction of the Honorable Dot Scott, President and the Rev. Joseph Darby, Vice - President.

With roughly 400 people in attendance, the evening was filled with lots of pride, enthusiasm and promise as our nation celebrates the 100^th year Centennial of the organization with the theme “BOLD DREAMS AND BIG VICTORIES.”

Today the NAACP is still the voice of the voiceless when it comes to justice and equality for all people as was reflected by the Charleston Branches main speaker for the evening “The Honorable Julian Bond, National Chairman of it’s Board of Directors. As an activist he was jailed for his convictions, as a student at Morehouse, he organized sit-ins, and anti - segregation rallies, and has always been on the cutting edge of social change in America. In 1965 he was elected and served more than 20 years in both branches of the Georgia General Assembly and is credited with organizing the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. He is a University Professor at American University in Washington, DC and Professor of history at the University of Virginia. Born in 1940 in Nashville Tennessee, Bond is a founding member of the Student nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the voice of the awarding winning critically acclaimed PBS series “Eyes on the Prize.”

Bond gave an upbeat and electrifying speech which gave a general overview of the history of the NAACP as well as the highs and lows that he’s experienced as a human over his many years as a major player on the battlefield of justice. He spoke about his disappointment of how we were let down by our Legislators who failed to remove the confederate flag from the grounds of the State House, and who allowed themselves to be duped into an agreement which makes it more visible to the people of South Carolina because you don’t have to look up anymore to see it. The flag is now eye level on the grounds of the South Carolina State House, and the Legislators who were in favor of having it removed from the top of the Capitol got exactly what they asked for, “a more visible flag!” Bond went on to say that he loves and enjoys coming to SC, but does not think he will return until the Confederate Flag is moved off of those grounds altogether.

ABOUT NAACP

Founded on February 12, 1909 the NAACP is the oldest, largest and most recognized grassroots based civil rights organization in the nation with numbers boasting more than half - million members. The organization was formed in response to the continued horrified practice of lynching, and because of the 1908 race riot in Springfield Illinois. The organization was actually started by a group of blacks and whites who wanted to discuss racial matters. The main goal, at the time was to secure the rights for all people as guaranteed in the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments of the US Constitution, which promised that slavery would come to an end and that equal protection under the law for all people would be upheld. The NAACP’s main objective is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority groups and eliminate racial prejudice.

In 1910, the NAACP established its national office in New York City and named its first official board of directors, and “President Moorfield Storey, who was a white constitutional lawyer and former President of the American Bar Association.”

Also in 1910 W.E.B. Du Bois who was the only African American among the organizations executives, founded the Crisis Magazine as the voice for civil rights. Today the magazine is published quarterly, still going strong, and is one of the oldest black periodicals in America.

By 1913 the NAACP had established offices in cities such as Washington, Detroit, Kansas City and Boston. Joel Spingarn, one of the founders was a Professor of literature who formulated much of the strategy that led to the growth of the organization. He served as board chair in 1915 and also served as the national President from 1929 through 1939. The prestigious Spingarn Medal which is the highest honor anyone can achieve from the NAACP is named in his honor. From 1917 through 1919 membership in the organization had grown to more than 90,000 with more than 300 local branches.

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s the NAACP started focusing on economic justice. After years of tensions with white labor unions, the Association cooperated with the newly formed Congress of Industrial Organizations in an effort to win jobs for black Americans. First Lady Elenor Roosevelt also played a major roll with her attempts to influence President Roosevelt to outlaw job discrimination in the armed forces and defense industries. Her efforts paid off when President Roosevelt agreed to open thousands of jobs to black workers with NAACP supported labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and his march on Washington movement in 1941. President Roosevelt also agreed to set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee to oversee compliance.

In the 1950’s the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund was headed by Attorney Thurgood Marshall who secured through the lawsuit “Brown v. Board of Education” in 1954 which outlawed segregation in public schools, but despite dramatic courtroom and congressional victories, the implementation of civil rights was slow, painful and sometimes violent. Along the way there have been many murders and unsolved murders which still hover a dark cloud over America to this day.

Violence also met black children attempting to enter previously segregated schools in the 1950’s in places like Little Rock Arkansas and other southern cities. Many blacks throughout the south were also still denied the right to vote or register. By the 1960’s the Civil Right Movement echoed the goals of the NAACP but it took leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to obtain them.

By Curtis Inabinett, Jr.
Inabinett1@aol.com