Naacp and the Crisis

Students form student government associations to represent and voice the needs and wants of the student body. Rappers travel with entourages, and preachers have amen corners. Surrounding one’s self with a cluster of like-minded individuals creates a comfortable atmosphere, that fosters confidence, and makes an individual and his/her ideas appear more credible. People have a tendency to connect with others that have common interests and goals. It is easier to fight for a particular cause, when there are people in your corner, who believe in what you believe in. This has been the case throughout history. Baptist Students created the Baptist Student Alliance (BSA), Homosexuals join GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Deformation and women in the LWV (League of Women Voter’s) fight for women’s rights and encourage active participation of citizens in government. Black people have participated in and created numerous movements and organizations as well. Marcus Garvey’s Back to Africa campaign instilled a sense of pride in black people who quoted the Garvey coined phrase “Black is Beautiful.” The Black Panther’s militant views excited black folk, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a major player in the civil rights movement. Individuals dedicate themselves and their time to organization in order to encourage and create positive change. Though organizations provide structure and a support system they often face their own set of issues, while trying to solve the big problem.

During the first week in 1909 William Walling, a wealthy member of the American Socialist Party, a Jewish man named Dr. Henry Moskowitz and Mary Ovington a descendent of abolitionist obsessed with dealing with race issues met at Walling’s New York apartment for a meeting. At this meeting Walling discussed progressive reform and drafted a manifesto. Oswald Villard, publisher of the Evening Post and The Nation was selected as the final draftsman for the manifesto. The meetings soon grew too large for Walling’s apartment, so they began meeting at the Liberal Club. On May 31, 1909 they summoned men and women of white and black descent to New York’s charity organization society for the first meeting of the National Negro Conference. There were about three hundred people in the audience that ranged from social up lifters to labor organizers. There were few African Americans in attendance. Ida Wells-Barnett, Monroe Trotter and W.E.B. Dubois were among those that attended. This two-day conference marked the beginning of a new era and the birth of a prominent organization that would fight for black rights for years to come. During the February meetings of 1910, the name NAACP (National Advancement for the Association of Colored People) was chosen.

The NAACP concerned itself with many issues dealing with black people. Black disfranchisement and inequality within the public sphere were among their top priorities. At the first National Negro Conference, Dubois spoke. His text was entitled “Politics and Industry.” He spoke about the three waves of black disfranchisement and stated that he believes you can only gain economic power through political power. While the NAACP’s main focus was the betterment of black people, in its beginnings the organization was faced with obstacles that it had to overcome to completely focus on the issue at hand.

There were a number of white philanthropist and abolitionist associated with the NAACP. While they were clearly interested in doing their part to bring an end to the injustices suffered by blacks, it is also evident that some were not completely comfortable around black people. Oswald Villard, who was married to a woman who insisted that neither blacks nor Jews came to their home, was not receptive to having more than a few African American’s. He also felt that he needed to be the ringmaster of the committee of forty, and that it should not be led by radicals. Villard had control issues and obviously felt that blacks were not ready or prepared to run an organization that was put in place to improve their quality of living. It seems that Villard, in some ways had the mentality of the white men that were oppressing black people.

Villard’s lack of faith in the black community created a riff over organizational structure. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Monroe Trotter and Milton Waldron were among the outraged when their names were not recited as members