NAACP turns 100

News

NAACP turns 100

The NAACP, founded Feb. 12, 1909, on the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, itself turns 100.

1949: W.E.B. Du Bois, educator, writer and co-chairman of the U.S. delegation, addresses the World Congress of Partisans of Peace at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, France. Du Bois was one of the founders of the NAACP, on Feb. 12, 1909.

1939: Contralto singer Marian Anderson performs on the steps of Washington's Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday after she had been refused permission to perform in Washington's Constitution Hall by the hall's owners, the Daughters of the American Revolution. The outdoor concert attracted a large crowd and many more listened by radio, focusing attention on Anderson and subsequent cases of racial discrimination.

1958: Thurgood Marshall (center), chief legal counsel of the NAACP, is surrounded by students and their escort from Little Rock, Ark., as he sits on the steps of the Supreme Court Building in Washington after he filed an appeal in the integration case of Little Rock's Central High School. The students are, from left: Melba Pattillo, Jefferson Thomas, Gloria Ray, escort Daisy Bates, Marshall, Carlotta Walls, Minnijean Brown, and Elizabeth Eckford.

1956: A Montgomery (Ala.) Sheriff's Department booking photo of Rosa Parks, is seen in Montgomery, Ala.

1963: Medgar Evers, 37, Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was shot and killed in Jackson, Miss. early June 12, 1963. He was shot outside his home after returning from an integration rally.

1963: Mourners march to the Jackson, Miss., funeral home following services for slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

1963: President Kennedy poses at the White House with a group of leaders of the March on Washington. (From left) Whitney Young, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, Dr. Eugene P. Donnaly, A. Philip Randolph, Kennedy; Walter Reuther, Vice-President Johnson (rear), and Roy Wilkins.

1964: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, right, talks with civil rights leaders in his White House office in Washington. (From left) Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; James Farmer, national director of the Committee on Racial Equality; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Whitney Young, executive director of the Urban League.

2000: Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO of the NAACP, waves to the crowd during a rally in Columbia, S.C. An estimated 46,000 people gathered to demand the removal of the Confederate flag from the dome of the Statehouse.

2009: NAACP President and Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Jealous gestures during an interview with The Associated Press, in Washington.

1/10

1949: W.E.B. Du Bois, educator, writer and co-chairman of the U.S. delegation, addresses the World Congress of Partisans of Peace at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, France. Du Bois was one of the founders of the NAACP, on Feb. 12, 1909.

Today's Gallery Headlines

PHOTOS: Day 5 of spring training for the Braves

Metro Atlanta students write valentines to veterans

GHSA Championship, Dance, Akins Ford Arena, Athens

PHOTOS: Georgia teams dance way to state championships

PHOTOS: Day 3 of Spring Training for Braves

More Galleries

PHOTOS: Georgia's first snowfall of the year

PHOTOS: The Compass Rose Cafe serves up quality food with heaping side dishes of life skills

Juwad Maynard holds a banner during a protest in Atlanta on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, against the U.S. military action in Venezuela. (Ben Gray for the AJC)

PHOTOS: People gather in downtown Atlanta to protest U.S. military action in Venezuela

People prepare to run the Polar Opposite Peachtree Road Race on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Atlanta. (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Alerts