Existing comment:
The National Negro Committee:
In 1908 socialist William English Walling published an expose about a bloody race riot in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln's hometown and burial site. As a result, in January 1909 an interracial group assembled to discuss proposals for an organization that would advocate the civil and political rights of African Americans. The group decided to issue a "call" for a national conference on the centennial of Lincoln's birth, February 12, 1909, resulting in the National Negro Conference held in New York on May 31 and June 1, 1909. At the second annual meeting, May 12, 1910, the Committee adopted the formal name of the organization -- the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP's goals were the abolition of segregation, discrimination, disenfranchisement, and racial violence, particularly lynching. Its "first and immediate steps" are listed at the bottom of the document. |