Description
William English Walling’s exposé about a bloody race riot in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln’s hometown and burial site, resulted in the assembly of an interracial group to discuss proposals for an organization that would advocate the civil and political rights of African Americans in January 1909. The group issued a "call" resulting in the first National Negro Conference held in New York on May 31 and June 1, 1909. At the second annual meeting on May 12, 1910, the Committee adopted the formal name of the organization — the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP's goals were the abolition of segregation, discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial violence, particularly lynching.
Transcript of the 1909 National Negro Committee Platform
Source-Dependent Questions
- Compare this document to other documents in this source set, such as Why Disfranchisement is Bad (1904), Guinn v. United States (1914) or A New Reconstruction Letter (1919). What message do these documents share that is similar? What messages are different?
- How was this document's message unique compared to other sources in this source set?
- How did this document and the organization's platform give African Americans hope?
Citation Information
"Platform Adopted by the National Negro Committee," 1909. Courtesy of Library of Congress