National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Their mission is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. By Laura and Francesca

Video about NAACP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXAAUFXke6Q&safe=active

NAACP AIMS To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof.

Background and Membership Founded in 1909, the NAACP is one of the USA’s largest, oldest and most widely recognised grassroots based civil rights organisation. Formed as a response to the horrific lynching's being carried out upon African Americans and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the resting place of Abraham Lincoln. Early members included a group of white liberals and descendants of abolitionists such as Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard. When it was first formed, the NAACP only consisted of 60 members, 7 of whom were African Americans. NAACP’s first aim was to secure for all people the rights guaranteed by the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution. With a strong emphasis on local organising, the NAACP had established branch offices in cities and states such as Boston, Washington DC and Michigan. The Pressure group’s membership grew rapidly from 9,000 in 1917 to 90,000 in 1919. Today the NAACP has over half a million members.

Methods Pros of methods Cons of methods Martin Luther King Jr was a formative figure in the NAACP’s history and his peaceful and non-violent protests were adopted by the Pressure group. 150 supporters were arrested at a protest in North Carolina in 2011, over voting rights. This can give the group a negative image if they are seen to use civil disobedience The Pressure group also uses a lot of lobbying and uses access points such as state legislatures because they have jurisdiction over voting laws. Most successful method of influencing policy. In 2013 alone the group spent over $500,000 on lobbying. This can promote elitism.

Success factors and impacts It has a large membership of 500,000 Their budget is around $27,600,000 a year The category of the group- The NAACP is an insider membership pressure group, which not only promotes civil rights for its members but equality for all citizens, for example they support marriage equality.

Access point/recent activity In 2011 The NAACP and thousands of supporters and activists from around the country marched and rallied in Sanford, Florida on March 31 to demand justice for Trayvon Martin. Also in attendance were civil rights leaders Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson. It eventually led to the arrest George Zimmerman a week later. Between 2012 and 2013, the NAACP and it’s state conferences worked tirelessly to defeat voter suppression laws in several states, working with coalitions in Maine, Kansas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire to kill restrictive bills or delay implementation of harmful laws. Michigan stopped a suite of suppressive laws, including strict photo ID, burdensome restrictions on community-based voter registration drives, and more. Since 2008 they have registered 374,553 voters and mobilised 1.2 million new and unlikely voters to turn out at the polls for the 2012 presidential election. Thanks to the lobbying of state legislatures.

Extent of impact on policy/awareness Thousands of NAACP’s members took part in the 1963 March in Washington that effectively led to the Civil Rights Act which outlawed discrimination in all public places as well as racial segregation in schools. They protested tirelessly for Troy Davis to be taken off death row. Unfortunately the Supreme Court denied the appeal in 2011. However the NAACP now use this case to help spread awareness and gain support to eradicate the death penalty in America. Their campaigning has helped to get capital punishment abolished in Connecticut and Maryland. They formed a petition with more than 1.7 million signatures, calling on the Department of Justice to pursue charges against George Zimmerman for violating Trayvon Martin's civil rights.