Mission:
To protect the civil rights of, and improve opportunities for, African Americans.
Founded:
In 1909, by a multiracial group of civil rights activists.
Demographics:
The NAACP is a chapter-driven, membership-driven organization made up of over 400,000 members who operate through local and regional chapters in every state.
Supporters Say:
The NAACP will probably always be best remembered for its Supreme Court victory in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), but it remains the nation's strongest advocacy organization for black civil rights at a time when black civil rights are still threatened. The NAACP is as relevant today as it ever was.
Critics Say:
The NAACP peaked during the civil rights movement, and has not been especially successful in developing a new generation of activists.
I Say:
When an organization has held a leadership role in a movement that produced school desegregation laws, the Civil Rights Acts, affirmative action, and on and on and on, what on Earth can it do for an encore? The NAACP suffers from the high expectations set by the monumental victories of its past, but it is still one of our country's leading civil rights groups.
