NAACP 1947

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The  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is a historic civil rights organization that was founded in 1909. Its founders, W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey, Ida B. Wells, Henry Moskowitz, and William English Walling, were a group of civil rights activists fighting to eliminate race-based discrimination. The mission of the NAACP was, and continues to be, to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all US citizens. Throughout its history, the NAACP has been a significant player in civil rights victories, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

On June 29, 1947, President Harry Truman became the first U.S. president to address the NAACP directly in a speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In this speech, Truman acknowledged the country’s need to live up to its founding principles of equality and justice and recognised the hypocrisy of fighting for freedom abroad while denying certain civil rights at home. Truman emphasized the importance of economic and social equality, and explicitly condemned lynching and racial violence. He called for the protection and enforcement of current civil rights, and to combat racial discrimination with new legislation to guarantee equal rights for all Americans. This speech marked a significant moment in civil rights history, leading to the establishment of the President’s Committee on Civil Right. Later that same year, the committee produced a report titled "To Secure These Rights". This report highlights findings of pervasive discrimination in the U.S. and recommended federal legislation to combat racial discrimination and promote equality.