who was a prominent naacp lawyer from the 1930s to the 1950s?

by Ms. Rowena Hoeger I 5 min read

The first general counsel of NAACP, Charles Hamilton Houston exposed the hollowness of the "separate but equal
separate but equal
Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protection" under the law to all people.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Separate_but_equal
" doctrine and paved the way for the Supreme Court ruling outlawing school segregation.

What did the NAACP do in the 1930s?

Between degrees, Hastie joined Houston and Houston and the faculty of Howard Law School, becoming Dean in 1939. During the 1930s he began his tenure with the NAACP as a strategic advisor and counsel. He also served as chairman of the Legal Committee from 1939–1949 and on the Board of Directors of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1941–1968.

What was the NAACP's most famous case?

Mar 21, 1981 · Pioneering civil-rights attorney Thurgood Marshall, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), successfully argued the case before the court. Marshall, who founded the LDF in...

Who were the founding members of the NAACP?

Mar 17, 2017 · One of the intellectual forces behind the early NAACP was pioneering sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois, who edited its official magazine, The Crisis, for 25 years. In 1905, before the NAACP was founded, Du Bois co-founded the Niagara Movement, a radical Black civil rights organization that demanded both racial justice and women's suffrage.

What was The racial makeup of the NAACP when it was founded?

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells. Leaders of the organization included Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkins.

Who were some of the prominent leaders of the naacp?

The NAACP's founding members included white progressives Mary White Ovington, Henry Moskowitz, William English Walling and Oswald Garrison Villard, along with such African Americans as W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Wells-Barnett, Archibald Grimke and Mary Church Terrell.Jan 25, 2021

Who was the naacp lawyer during the 1950s?

Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991.

Who was the famous NAACP lawyer?

Thurgood Marshall
How Did Thurgood Marshall Help the NAACP? Immediately after graduation, Marshall opened a law office in Baltimore, and in the early 1930s, he represented the local NAACP chapter in a successful lawsuit that challenged the University of Maryland Law School over its segregation policy.

Who became the naacp most successful lawyer?

In 1936 Marshall became a staff lawyer under Houston for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); in 1938 he became the lead chair in the legal office of the NAACP, and two years later he was named chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Who was the first Black person on the Supreme Court?

Justice Thurgood Marshall
Justice Thurgood Marshall: First African American Supreme Court Justice. On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated distinguished civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to be the first African American justice to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Who was the first Black lawyer?

Macon Bolling Allen
Macon Bolling Allen
Resting placeCharleston, South Carolina
Other namesAllen Macon Bolling
OccupationLawyer, judge
Known forFirst African-American lawyer and Justice of the Peace
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What Court cases did the naacp win?

The NAACP's long battle against de jure segregation culminated in the Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, which overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Who was the first female Supreme Court justice?

Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor, née Sandra Day, (born March 26, 1930, El Paso, Texas, U.S.), associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court.Mar 22, 2022

Who was the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice?

Justice Sonia Sotomayor
As the first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor has made an impact in and out of the courtroom.Sep 1, 2021

Who was the first Black woman to argue before the Supreme Court?

While Ray achieved countless “firsts,” it was Lucy Terry Prince who became the first African-American woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Who did Constance Baker Motley marry?

Joel Wilson Motley
She graduated from New York University in 1943. Three years later, after earning a law degree from Columbia University in New York City, she married Joel Wilson Motley, a real estate and insurance broker.Mar 30, 2022

Who was the first Black female lawyer?

Charlotte E. Ray
Ray, First Female African-American Lawyer. Charlotte E. Ray graduated from Howard Law School on February 27, 1872, becoming not only the first female African-American lawyer in the United States but also the first practicing female lawyer in Washington, D.C.Feb 27, 2009

When was the NAACP founded?

Sources. 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. It was formed in New York City by white and Black activists, partially in response to the ongoing violence against African Americans around the country.

What is 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. It was formed in New York City by white and Black activists, partially in response to the ongoing violence against African Americans around the country. In the NAACP’s early decades, its anti-lynching campaign was central to its agenda. During the civil rights era in the 1950s and 1960s, the group won major legal victories, and today the NAACP has more than 2,200 branches and some half a million members worldwide.

How many branches does the NAACP have?

During the civil rights era in the 1950s and 1960s, the group won major legal victories, and today the NAACP has more than 2,200 branches and some half a million members worldwide.

Who was the leader of the Niagara Movement?

Some early members of the organization, which included suffragists, social workers, journalists, labor reformers, intellectuals and others, had been involved in the Niagara Movement, a civil rights group started in 1905 and led by Du Bois, a sociologist and writer.

Who was the first black president of the NAACP?

A white lawyer, Moorfield Storey, became the NAACP’s first president. Du Bois, the only Black person on the initial leadership team, served as director of publications and research. In 1910, Du Bois started The Crisis, which became the leading publication for Black writers; it remains in print today.

What was the NAACP's goal?

The NAACP’s Early Decades. Since its inception, the NAACP has worked to achieve its goals through the judicial system, lobbying and peaceful protests. In 1910, Oklahoma passed a constitutional amendment allowing people whose grandfathers had been eligible to vote in 1866 to register without passing a literacy test.

Why did the NAACP march in 1917?

In 1917, some 10,000 people in New York City participated in an NAACP-organized silent march to protest lynchings and other violence against Black people. The march was one of the first mass demonstrations in America against racial violence.

What is the NAACP?

The NAACP works to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes. The national office was established in New York City in 1910 as well as a board of directors and president, Moorfield Storey, a white constitutional lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association.

Where was the NAACP founded?

By 1913, with a strong emphasis on local organizing, NAACP had established branch offices in such cities as Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Kansas City, MO, St. Louis, MO, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, MI . NAACP membership grew rapidly, from around 9,000 in 1917 to around 90,000 in 1919, with more than 300 local branches.

Who was the president of the NAACP?

Joel Spingarn, a professor of literature and one of the NAACP founders formulated much of the strategy that fostered the organization's growth. He was elected board chairman of the NAACP in 1915 and served as president from 1929-1939.

Who was the first black executive secretary?

He was elected board chairman of the NAACP in 1915 and served as president from 1929-1939. Writer and diplomat James Weldon Johnson became the Association's first black executive secretary in 1920, and Louis T. Wright, a surgeon, was named 1934.

Who was the NAACP chief counsel?

In 1935, White recruited Charles H. Houston as NAACP chief counsel. Houston was the Howard University law school dean whose strategy on school-segregation cases paved the way for his protégé Thurgood Marshall to prevail in 1954's Brown v. Board of Education, the decision that overturned Plessy.

What was the NAACP's goal in the 1950s?

Board of Education (1954), which outlawed segregation in public schools . NAACP's Washington, D.C., bureau, led by lobbyist Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., helped advance not only integration of the armed forces in 1948 Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964, and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

What was the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s?

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s echoed the NAACP's goals, but leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, felt that direct action was needed to obtain them.

Who is Femi Lewis?

The Silent Parade of 1917. Femi Lewis is a writer and educator who specializes in African American history topics, including enslavement, activism, and the Harlem Renaissance. The NAACP is the oldest and most recognized civil rights organization in the United States.

What is the NAACP?

Femi Lewis. Updated December 16, 2020. The NAACP is the oldest and most recognized civil rights organization in 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. ”. ...

How many members does the NAACP have?

Updated December 16, 2020. The NAACP is the oldest and most recognized civil rights organization in 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. ”.

What is the NAACP pamphlet?

Following the debut of "The Birth of a Nation" in theaters across the United States, the NAACP publishes a pamphlet titled "Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest Against 'The Birth of a Nation.'". Du Bois reviews the film in The Crisis and condemns its glorification of racist propaganda.

Who was the NAACP executive secretary?

NAACP Executive Secretary James Weldon Johnson, a Black civil rights activist, pushes to get anti-lynching legislation through Congress in the 1920s. Library of Congress / Getty Images. The NAACP publishes the pamphlet "Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1898–1918.".

Who was the leader of the NAACP in 1919?

From May to October 1919, a number of race riots erupt in cities throughout the United States. In response, James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938), a prominent leader in the NAACP, organizes peaceful protests.

Who was the first president to address the NAACP?

MPI / Getty Images. Harry Truman (1884–1972) becomes the first U.S. president to formally address the NAACP. Truman works with the organization to develop a commission to study and offer ideas to improve civil rights in the United States.

When did Thurgood Marshall retire?

He served as Associate Justice from 1967-1991 after being nominated by President Johnson. Marshall retired from the bench in 1991 and passed away on January 24, 1993, in Washington D.C. at the age of 84. Civil rights and social change came about through meticulous and persistent litigation efforts, at the forefront of which stood Thurgood Marshall ...

Where was William Marshall born?

Marshall was born on July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, to William Marshall, railroad porter, who later worked on the staff of Gibson Island Club, a white-only country club and Norma Williams, a school teacher. One of his great-grandfathers had been taken as a slave from the Congo to Maryland where he was eventually freed.

What did Marshall do after he graduated?

Immediately after graduation, Marshall opened a law office in Baltimore , and in the early 1930s, he represented the local NAACP chapter in a successful lawsuit that challenged the University of Maryland Law School over its segregation policy. In addition, he successfully brought lawsuits that integrated other state universities.

Who was the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court?

Marshall founded LDF in 1940 and served as its first Director-Counsel. He was the architect of the legal strategy that ended the country’s official policy of segregation and was the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court. He served as Associate Justice from 1967-1991 after being nominated by President Johnson.

Who was the founder of the NAACP?

One of the intellectual forces behind the early NAACP was pioneering sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois, who edited its official magazine, The Crisis, for 25 years. In 1905, before the NAACP was founded, Du Bois co-founded the Niagara Movement, a radical Black civil rights organization that demanded both racial justice and women's suffrage.

Who was the vice president of the Niagara Movement?

Mary White Ovington, a white ally who had worked aggressively for Black civil rights, came on board as the Niagara Movement's vice-president and a multiracial movement began to emerge.

When did the NNC start?

Concerned about the race riots and the future of Black civil rights in America, a group of 60 activists gathered in New York City on May 31st, 1909 to create the National Negro Committee. A year later, the NNC became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

What was the NAACP's first brief?

In this case, the policy concern was the NAACP's successful first brief in Guinn v. United States, in which the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that states may not grant a "grandfather exemption" allowing whites to bypass voter literacy tests. The cultural concern was a powerful national protest against D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, a racist Hollywood blockbuster that portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as heroic and African Americans as anything but.

Who was the vice president of the NAACP in 1940?

1940. Women's leadership was instrumental to the growth of the NAACP, and the election of Mary McLeod Bethune as vice-president of the organization in 1940 continued the example set by Ovington, Angelina Grimké, and others.

What was the NAACP's most famous case?

The NAACP's most famous case was Brown v. Board of Education, which ended government-enforced racial segregation in the public school system. To this day, white nationalists complain that the ruling violated "state's rights" (beginning a trend in which the interests of states and corporations would be described as rights on par with individual civil liberties).

Who was the first US president to refuse to speak to the NAACP?

When NAACP chairman Julian Bond delivered remarks critical of President George W. Bush, the IRS took a page from the Eisenhower administration's book and used the opportunity to challenge the organization's tax-exempt status. For his part, Bush, citing Bond's remarks, became the first U.S. president in modern times to refuse to speak to the NAACP.

Who is the NAACP?

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells.

What is the NAACP's mission?

Its mission in the 21st century is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination". National NAACP initiatives include political lobbying, publicity efforts and litigation strategies developed by its legal team.

Where is the NAACP headquartered?

The NAACP is headquartered in Baltimore, with additional regional offices in New York, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Colorado and California. Each regional office is responsible for coordinating the efforts of state conferences in that region. Local, youth, and college chapters organize activities for individual members.

What was the Pan American Exposition of 1901?

The Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York, featured many American innovations and achievements, but also included a disparaging caricature of slave life in the South as well as a depiction of life in Africa, called "Old Plantation" and "Darkest Africa", respectively. A local African-American woman, Mary Talbert of Ohio, was appalled by the exhibit, as a similar one in Paris highlighted black achievements. She informed W. E. B. Du Bois of the situation, and a coalition began to form.

Where did the Niagara Movement meet?

Seven of the members of the Niagara Movement joined the Board of Directors of the NAACP, founded in 1909.

Who were the founders of the NAACP?

Founders of the NAACP: Moorfield Storey, Mary White Ovington and W.E.B. Du Bois. The Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois, the state capital and President Abraham Lincoln 's hometown, was a catalyst showing the urgent need for an effective civil rights organization in the U.S.

Who was the field secretary of the NAACP?

In 1916, chairman Joel Spingarn invited James Weldon Johnson to serve as field secretary. Johnson was a former U.S. consul to Venezuela and a noted African-American scholar and columnist. Within four years, Johnson was instrumental in increasing the NAACP's membership from 9,000 to almost 90,000.

Who was the first woman to join the NAACP?

The story of the NAACP begins with a woman. On February 12, 1909, a white journalist and woman’s suffragist named Mary White Ovington joined with two other activists to call for a national conference on the civil and political rights of African-Americans.

Who was Mary White Ovington?

On February 12, 1909, a white journalist and woman’s suffragist named Mary White Ovington joined with two other activists to call for a national conference on the civil and political rights of African-Americans.

What is the NAACP mission statement?

Our mission statement is to “ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons” — not just men. Women have always played a large role in helping us pursue that vision, and we are well positioned to continue doing so in the future.

1909

1911

  • By the 1950s the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, headed by Marshall, secured the last of these goals through Brown v. Board of Education(1954), which outlawed segregation in public schools. NAACP's Washington, D.C., bureau, led by lobbyist Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., helped advance not only integration of the armed forces in 1948 Civil Righ...
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1915

1917

Image
A group of African American and White men and women establish the NAACP. Founders include W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963), Mary White Ovington (1865–1951), Ida B. Wells(1862–1931), and William English Walling (1877–1936). The organization is originally called the National Negro Committee.
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1919

  • The Crisis, the official monthly news publication of the organization, is founded by W.E.B. Du Bois, who is also the publication's first editor. This magazine will go on to cover events and issues relevant to Black Americans throughout the United States. During the Harlem Renaissance, many writers publish short stories, novel excerpts, and poems in its pages.
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1930–1939

  • Following the debut of "The Birth of a Nation" in theaters across the United States, the NAACP publishes a pamphlet titled "Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest Against 'The Birth of a Nation.'" Du Bois reviews the film in The Crisisand condemns its glorification of racist propaganda. The NAACP calls for the movie to be banned throughout the country. Although protests are not succ…
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1948

  • On July 28, the NAACP organizes the "Silent Parade," the largest civil rights protest in United States’ history. Beginning on 59th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City, an estimated 10,000 marchers move silently up the streets holding signs that read, "Mr. President, why not make America safe for democracy?” and "Thou Shall Not Kill." The goal of the protest is to raise aware…
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1954

  • The NAACP publishes the pamphlet "Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1898–1918." The report is used to appeal to lawmakers to end the social, political, and economic terrorism associated with lynching. From May to October 1919, a number of race riots erupt in cities throughout the United States. In response, James Weldon Johnson(1871–1938), a prominent le…
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1955

  • During this decade, the organization begins providing moral, economic, and legal support to Black Americans suffering criminal injustice. In 1931, the NAACP offers legal representation to the Scottsboro Boys, nine young adults who are falsely accused of raping two White women. The NAACP's defense brings national attention to the case.
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1964–1965

  • Harry Truman (1884–1972) becomes the first U.S. president to formally address the NAACP. Truman works with the organization to develop a commission to study and offer ideas to improve civil rights in the United States. The same year, Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which desegregates the United States Armed Services. The order states:
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Early life and education

  • The landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka overturns thePlessy v. Ferguson ruling. The new decision states that racial segregation violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The ruling makes it unconstitutional to separate students of different races in public schools. Ten years later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes …
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Early career

  • Rosa Parks (1913–2005), a local chapter secretary of the NAACP, refuses to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her actions set the stage for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott becomes a springboard for organizations such as the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Urban Leagueto develop a national civil rights movement.
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Significance

  • The NAACP plays a pivotal role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Through cases fought and won in the U.S. Supreme Court as well as grassroots initiatives such as the Freedom Summer, the NAACP appeals to various levels of government to change American society.
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Leadership

Image
Marshall was born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland to William Marshall, railroad porter, who later worked on the staff of Gibson Island Club, a white-only country club and Norma Williams, a school teacher. One of his great-grandfathers had been taken as a slave from the Congo to Maryland where he was eventually fr…
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Later career

  • Immediately after graduation, Marshall opened a law office in Baltimore and in the early 1930s, he represented the local NAACP chapter in a successful lawsuit that challenged the University of Maryland Law School over its segregation policy. In addition, he successfully brought lawsuits that integrated other state universities. In 1936, Marshall be...
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Criticisms

  • After founding the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1940, Marshall became the key strategist in the effort to end racial segregation, in particular meticulously challenging Plessy v. Ferguson , the Court-sanctioned legal doctrine that called for separate but equal structures for white and blacks. Marshall won a series of court decisions that gradually struck down that doctrine, ultimately lea…
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Legacy

  • In 1957 LDF, led by Marshall, became an entirely separate entity from the NAACP with its own leadership and board of directors and has remained a separate organization to this day.
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