NAACP Founded on Lincoln's Centennial

Summary

Following the 1908 Springfield race riot in Illinois, which highlighted the need for organized resistance to racial violence and Jim Crow laws, a group of activists convened in New York. Prominent figures including W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Ida B. Wells, and others issued a call for a national conference timed to the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. On February 12, 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was formally established to combat lynching, segregation, and disenfranchisement. The interracial organization aimed to secure full civil and political rights for African Americans through legal action, education, and advocacy. Its founding marked a shift toward sustained, structured efforts against systemic racism in the United States.

Why It Matters

The NAACP became the leading civil rights organization in America, winning landmark Supreme Court cases like Brown v. Board of Education and advancing legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It established a model for litigation-based social change and interracial coalition-building that shaped the broader civil rights movement and influenced global human rights advocacy.

Related Portfolio Site

America 250 Atlas: NAACP Founded on Lincoln's Centennial is part of U.S. presidential, constitutional, or national civic history.

Sources

1. Our History, NAACP. Accessed 2026-07-08.
2. NAACP, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-07-08.