National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Definition

The NAACP is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909, that works to ensure political, educational, social and economic equality for all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

Related terms

Civil Rights Movement: A struggle by African Americans in the mid-1950s to late 1960s to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites, including equal opportunity in employment, housing, and education, as well as the right to vote.

Brown v. Board of Education: A landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which it was decided that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional; this decision played a key role in initiating the Civil Rights Movement.

Jim Crow Laws: State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in Southern states between end of Reconstruction in 1877 until they were abolished by federal legislation during mid-1960s.