Term paper on Establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909)

By the early 1900s African Americans in the South suffered from disenfranchisement, segregation, and widespread physical violence that included lynchings. Conditions in the North were not as appalling, yet usually brought second-class citizenship. On the centennial of Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, 1909, a biracial group including W. E. B. Du Bois, John Dewey, Jane Addams, and Oswald Garrison Villard organized the NAACP to oppose segregation, promote equal educational opportunities, and fight for the enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments. Du Bois was named an officer and editor of the organization’s journal, The Crisis.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Why did racial segregation (Jim Crow laws) become the law in the South?
2. Compare the views of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois on how African Americans should deal with their problems.
3. Why was the NAACP established? What were its goals?
4. How does today’s NAACP differ from the original organization?
5. Analyze Du Bois’s changing views on racial problems in the United States.
Suggested Sources: See entries 71 and 73 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

The African American Almanac. 7th ed. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Provides a range of current and historical information and description of topics, issues, events, and personalities.

The African-American Atlas: Black History and Culture—An Illustrated Reference. Molefi K. Asante and Mark T. Mattson. Old Tappan, NJ: Macmillan/Simon&Schuster, 1998. Provides both current and historical data regarding African American development. Good coverage of the rise of the NAACP.

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Old Tappan, NJ: Macmillan/Simon&Schuster, 1997. 5 vols. Well-developed treatment of the founding of the NAACP.

GENERAL SOURCES

Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. (1903). Reprint. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. A classic work by one of the NAACP’s founders contains fourteen essays dealing with the difficulties of being a black American.

Villard, Oswald G. Oswald Garrison Villard, the Dilemmas of the Absolute Pacifist in Two World Wars . New York: Garland, 1983. Collection of articles, letters, and book excerpts by Villard that provide insight into his life’s philosophy.

Wintz, Cary D., ed. African American Political Thought, 1890–1930: Washington, Du Bois, Garvey, and Randolph. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1996. Collection of essays by the foremost thinkers in setting the foundation for the modern black experience in the United States.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Finch, Minnie. The NAACP: Its Fight for Justice. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1981. Introductory survey and good historical overview.

Harris, Jacqueline L. History and Achievement of the NAACP. New York: Franklin Watts, 1992. Concise and easy-to-read survey of the origin and history of the organization.

Kellogg, Charles Flint. NAACP: A History of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Vol. 1. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1967. First of a projected two-volume history of the NAACP, covering the years 1909–1920. Available in reprint through University Microfilms.
Muse, Edward B. Paying for Freedom: History of the NAACP and the Life Membership Program, 1909–1987. Baltimore: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1986. Interesting narrative of the program to finance the organization from the time of its inception.

Ovington, Mary White. Black and White Sat Down Together: The Reminiscences of an NAACP Founder. Ralph E. Luke, ed. New York: Feminist Press (CUNY), 1995. A fascinating and valuable memoir.

Zangrando, Robert L. The NAACP Crusade against Lynching, 1909–1950. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980. Excellent history of this aspect of the association’s work.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Harlan, Louis. Booker T. Washington. (1972). Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. 2 vols. Incomparable prize-winning study.

———, et al., eds. The Booker T. Washington Papers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972–1989. 14 vols. Extraordinary collection of sources for Washington and other African American leaders of his time.

Hovde, Jane. Jane Addams. New York: Facts on File, 1989. Concise biography of the influential social worker who helped create the NAACP.

Humes, Dollena J. Oswald Garrison Villard, Liberal of the 1920s. (1960). Reprint. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1977. Biography of the journalist who helped found the NAACP.

Lewis, David Levering. W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919. New York: H. Holt, 1993. First part of a projected two-volume effort. Detailed study with extensive bibliography.

Rockefeller, Steven C. John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. Detailed examination into Dewey’s philosophy. Provides excellent insight into the life orientation of one of the NAACP founders.

Wedin, Carolyn. Inheritors of the Spirit: Mary White Ovington and the Founding of the NAACP. New York: Wiley, 1997. Recent study of Ovington’s life and influence.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

W. E. B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices. San Francisco: California Newsreel, 1995. Four prominent African-Americans narrate a period in Du Bois’s life.

WORLD WIDE WEB
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. ‘‘What You Should Know About the NAACP.’’ NAACP Online. September 1997. http://www.naacp.org/about/factsheet.html A fact sheet that provides an excellent overview of the NAACP and its development. Most interesting is the six-page history by Mary White Ovington as printed in 1914.