BHS Day 1: NAACP

Hi and welcome to the second Black History Spotlight! As I did last year, I'm starting things off with a Community Spotlight, which can be either a person or organization that has in some way advanced or benefited the Black community. I chose the oldest organization in the community to kick off this year's series. 

Name: NAACP, or National Association for Advancement of Colored People

Date of establishment and founders: February 1909; a community of both Black and White citizens and abolitionists; the organization could later count both W.E.B. DuBois and Mary McLeod Bethune among the list of officers

Purpose of organization: To end the discrimination and unfair treatment of Blacks and other minority groups

Why is the Spotlight on it today? For its duty to the Black community, which culminated in historic court rulings in the name of equality and inclusion, be a voice for those underrepresented or discriminated against in the community as well as its work to increase the impact of Black professionals and uplift their accomplishments in a number of industries
Accomplishments and accolades: 
--Helped the groundbreaking Civil Rights Acts of 1957 get passed, which protected the rights Blacks had to vote and as a result, the passing of that act allowed the Civil Rights Division of the DoJ (Department of Justice) and Commission on Civil Rights to be established --Assisted in the historic Brown v Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, which overturned the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson ruling that Black students in public schools had to attend segregated institutions; the NAACP lawyer who presented the case to the courts will be discussed more tomorrow
--Helped change the procedures of military assignments and investigations and serve as a voice to mistreated Black soldiers, which was utilized during WWII
--Helped to establish the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and related laws by getting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed
--Was one of the organizations who participated in the demonstration in Washington D.C. in which Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech
--Assisted Black authors and journalists get the word out about their works by publishing newspapers, independent works and magazines targeted at the Black community --Established programs to help reduce poverty and hunger in Southern states
--Created the first civil rights law firm, the NAACP LDF (Legal Defense and Educational Fund), which aims to end racial injustice and inequality, especially in professional settings in which these things are supported by the state, and give Blacks full inclusion in society --During its first few decades of operation, lobbied aggressively to put firm antilynching laws in place --Was a large opponent of the 1960s "Black Power" movement, a more militant and demanding civil rights doctrine that encouraged Black pride and glorification, forcing improved conditions and opportunities and breaking through the racial ceilings, but also encouraged citizens to meet violence with violence and caused a temporary rift in the civil rights community because of its views --Assisted in the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (which was renamed the Authorization Act in 2006, when former President Bush extended the core provisions allowing it to remain in existence), considered to be the most important civil rights act in history --Still fights for inclusion in the education industry, in demanding admission for Black students into primarily White institutions, in textbook form in order to teach students about the accomplishments of the Black community, and for Black educators, demanding equal pay, exposing discrimination and racial profiling/demotions against Black teachers and administrators --Have argued for hundreds, if not thousands by now, of civil rights cases in courts at all levels of government--some examples include the disproportionate numbers of African-Americans on death row in comparison to inmates with similar crimes, the isolation of African-American students at majority-White educational institutions, and fighting the restrictions placed on voter IDs that people of color are facing in certain states --Was instrumental in getting courts to overturn state-mandated segregation of public places during the civil rights movement --Has created other programs which help bring awareness to and fight back against issues affecting society, such as the Get HYPE campaign, The Black Church and HIV Initiative, the ACE Dialysis Health Imperative for Access, Choice and Equity, and Childhood Obesity programs --Is responsible for the creation of some of the community's highest accolades, such as:

•  The Image Awards, which is an awards show centered around the achievements of African-Americans in the television, film, literature and music industries every year; the ceremony is televised on the African-American network TVOne
•  The Image Awards Hall of Fame, which honors one individual for their accomplishments
•  The Image Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors one individual a year for repeated contributions to the entertainment industry
•  The Spingarn Medal, the highest award given out by the NAACP, annually rewards an individual for outstanding achievement within the last calendar year; Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes and tomorrow's featured individual, Thurgood Marshall, are among the list of honorees

Further reading links: World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 14 | The African-American Almanac | NAACP LDF History | Voting Rights Act of 1965 | NAACP Awards | NAACP 

And that brings the first entry in this year's BHS to a close! If you joined me for last year's BHS, you'll remember that I mainly featured individuals rather than groups or organizations. This year, I wanted to create more of a mix of both individuals and organizations so that I could show the efforts of both people in various categories and the organizations who helped the Black community thrive as a whole. For me, doing that had to start with the NAACP. 
I'm sorry if the formatting appears wonky throughout the series; even though the posts look fine in draft, publishing them always throws off the formatting and I have to re-edit them anywhere between 5 and 10 times, no joke, before I just give up or create a new post entirely. lol A small note before I go, instead of the little summary down here that I usually do at the ends of my posts, I'm going to be introducing a "Quote of the Day" to close it out instead. I wanted to fit it in somewhere last year, but I couldn't figure out a good spot. I always have trouble closing out my posts, and including the quote there seemed like a good fix so I hope you like them. See you tomorrow!