by Can Tran

Created on: February 20, 2008

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights advocacy organizations in the United States. The group has been existent for almost 100 years. What not many people know is that the NAACP was for many people and not just blacks. NAACP's founders were both black and white.

However, they did work on the behalf of African-Americans.

The NAACP had played a very instrumental role in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. This group was big on using the legal system to fight for civil rights and to combat both discrimination and segregation.

In the early 20th century, there were the Jim Crow statutes which were known as the Jim Crow Laws. There were laws enforced between 1876 and 1965, for almost 100 years. It enabled both the Southern and border states within the United States to allow for segregation.

It was "separate but equal." But, the Jim Crow laws were discriminatory as coloreds had received the short end of the stick. Public facilities were separate. You had restrooms for blacks and whites.

In 1913 during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson implemented racial segregation into the government. However, the NAACP voiced its opposition to it. The biggest adversary that the NAACP fought against in the Civil Rights Movement was Jim Crow.

During that time, blacks were not allowed to serve as officers in the military. There were many blacks that were drafted into the military to fight in World War I. One prime example on how blacks were not allowed to serve as officers was the Civil War movie known as "Glory" with Mathew Broderick and Morgan Freeman. There were plenty of black soldiers in the Union. However, they were not allowed to serve as officers.

There were black officers in the Calvary. But, they were in command of only black regiments.

One greatest achievement made by the NAACP was winning the right for African-Americans to serve as officers during World War I. As a result, there were 600 hundred African-American officers. That was one battle they had won against Jim Crow.

They would use the justice system via lawsuits that target racial discrimination. They even challenged the "grandfather" rule in Oklahoma. Another battle they won against Jim Crow was that both the local and state governments could not segregate African-Americans into separate residential districts.

They would also combat the lynching of blacks. In 1919, over 200 black farmers were murdered by white vigilantes and federal troops. The NAACP would spend over ten years to make lynching illegal.

From there, the NAACP would continue to work on the desegregation of schools and other public facilities. The group wanted full desegregation in the South. The NAACP played a vital role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott that was led by Martin Luther King and Ralph David Abernathy.

NAACP spearheaded the Little Rock Nine campaign that was one step towards integrating schools.

In short, the NAACP was the one group that used the justice system to bring about change. They used the justice system to put an end to Jim Crow. Abolishment of Jim Crow was very vital to the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

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