BHS Day 8: National Council of Negro Women

Hi! I think I said this last week, but for each Community Spotlight I wanted to showcase an organization that benefitted the Black community in a positive way and I've been trying to include more woman-oriented things into this year's series as well, which brings me to today's entrant. I think these Spotlights should highlight both the accomplishments and accolades, not only of individuals, but of collective efforts by a number of people in order to accomplish goals that better the community. This is an organization that sadly, I knew nothing about until I started the BHS series last year. So what is the NCNW? 

Name: National Council of Negro Women, or UCNW

Founders and date of establishment: 1935 by Mary McLeod Bethune

Purpose of organization: To represent the national and international concerns, threats and issues facing Black women and to serve as an advocate for Black women to gain equality and better opportunities for themselves and their families

Why is the Spotlight on it today? For its role in fighting for the rights of Black women and trying to bring women of all races together in order to smooth racial issues and inequality

Notables and accomplishments: 
--Was the first national organization created for Black women
--Was at one time the most influential womens' organization 
--Fights for equality in the workplace, the overall betterment of Black women in all areas of their lives, and unity through sisterhood
--Hosted a reception for the then-Vice President that marked the first time a D.C. hotel ballroom was rented out to an African-American group
--Helped sponsor the 1962 American Negro Leadership Conference in Africa
--Through a joint effort with the SCLC and five other civil rights based organizations, formed the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership 
--Has a Bethune/Height Recognition Program, named after its founder and one of the most influential presidents, Dorothy Height, that honors those who help widen the financial reach of the program by contributing to the fund or joining the organization
--Started the "Wednesdays in Mississippi" project under then-president Dorothy Height that brought together groups of women from all races to create better race relations and encourage Black voter registration
--Through Height's efforts, was deemed tax-exempt in 1966 partially due to revisions of the Articles of Incorporation and related tax articles
--Offers a number of programs based on professional and personal enrichment for women, such as mentoring, estate and economic planning, financial planning and prosperity, spreading health awareness about diseases like AIDS, which has a bit of a stronghold in the Black community, and creating more opportunities in the scientific world for African-American women

Research resources and further reading links:
NCNW | Women's History--About | King Encyclopedia | 
Quote of the Day:
"If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves. We should, therefore, protest openly everything....that smacks of discrimination or slander."
"I am grateful to you, my daughters. I have been the dreamer. But, oh, how wonderfully you have interpreted my dreams."
--Mary McLeod Bethune, founder