African American Studies 101 | Livi, Kalina, Jakhai, & Alex

FOUNDING

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was first established in New York in 1909.  Created to fight for civil rights, all branches operate under its vision statement asserting its purpose of “ensuring a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.”  The Seattle branch of the NAACP was founded in 1913 and is one of the earliest branches West of the Mississippi River.  It was founded by a prominent list of middle-class residents in Seattle:

• • Dr. E. A Johnson – Presbyterian Minister
  • Rev. J. L. Williams – Methodist Minister
  • Horace Cayton, Vice President – Apartment House Owner
  • Samuel H. Stone – Caterer
  • G. W. Jones – Merchant-Tailor
  • J. I. Reams – Clothing Store Proprietor
  • Zoe Young (Zoe Dusanne) – Milliner
  • Bonita Wright – Property Owner
  • Mrs. R. J. Allen – Property Owner
  • Andrew Black – Attorney
  • Mrs. S. H. Stone – Property Owner
  • Rev. W. D. Carter – Baptist Minister
  • Samuel P. DeBow – Editor, Seattle Searchlight
  • William Chandler – Mover (Moving Express Company)
  • Benjamin F. Tutt – Barber
  • Letitia Graves, President – Hairdresser
  • Alma Glass – Dressmaker
  • J. H. (Henry) Graves – Chiropodist
  • Etta Hawkins – Property Owner
  • Beatrice Ball – Property Owner
  • G. W. Thompson – Grocer
  • L. Austin – Occupation Not Listed

Many of the founders were women, and a multitude of white members were admitted to the organization as the national office was convinced this would facilitate fundraising, “counteract prevailing white southern attitudes on segregation and promote interracial understanding” (Taylor 88-89).  Although composed of white and Black members, the Seattle NAACP was established in the Central Area on Dearborn St. and 23rd Ave.  The Central Area remains part of a “reverse L-shaped section stretching from the East Madison neighborhood south along 23rd Avenue,” which today is comprised of more African Americans than surrounding areas.  This is largely due to a history of White apartment owners refusing to rent to African Americans outside this specific region who were bound to covenants facilitating the segregation of neighborhoods (Taylor 82-84).

GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

To escape the horrors of the South, African Americans migrated to the Northeast, West, Midwest, and Northwest. Although it was less likely for there to be large populations of black people, a community slowly developed in this Central Area of Seattle.  Spared from the lynch mobs and white rioters of the South, Black people still endured racism and discrimination even in this milder city of which “one local observer recalled as the ‘little nasties’ – behavior and actions serving to remind African Americans of their inferiority in an overwhelmingly white city” (Taylor 80).  The Seattle NAACP was instrumental in combatting the racism and discrimination African Americans endured on a daily basis in social, political, and economic areas of society.

One of the first major accomplishments of the Seattle NAACP was removing the showing of Birth of a Nation from theaters within the city in 1915.  Beginning with protests, efforts moved to letter-writing campaigns in which the first president of the Seattle NAACP, Letitia Graves, wrote to the national office in New York.  Stating how she feared “nothing can be done to stop the showing of the film in Seattle” (Taylor 89), the City Council President Robert B. Hesketh ordered the chief of police to terminate all showings after learning of the NAACP’s concerns.

Before losing popularity due to the rise of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the Seattle NAACP focused its efforts on fighting anti-intermarriage bills.  As an organization built for civil rights, the branch believed this to be a vital effort in promoting its purpose of opposing discriminatory legislation.  However, due to emphasizing more integrationist ideals, the more Black nationalist UNIA, founded by Marcus Garvey, gained followers. Its platform emphasized, “support for African independence, worldwide black political unity, and local economic self-sufficiency” (Taylor 90).  Appealing to Seattle’s small Black population, the promise of returning people to Africa was coupled with an increase in racial pride.  The Seattle NAACP was eventually “declared dormant” by the national office in New York (Seattle King County NAACP).

Once the Great Depression hit, the branch began to revitalize itself by focusing on integrating Black society into the job sector for economic healing.  It took on many cases of employment discrimination, including one in which attorney Clarence Anderson was attacked by assistant tax collector Edward S. Streeter.  With rage and resentment, Streeter asserted, “This is a white man’s office and a white man’s country” (Taylor 93).  The NAACP exposed this investigation along with many others, receiving substantial publicity and providing awareness to the population.

More growth for the Seattle NAACP occurred during WWII with the continuation of remaining vocal against injustices toward African Americans in the employment sector.  During the 1940s, the branch’s staff expanded, and leaders Bernard Squires and Napoleon P. Dotson assumed top positions. They were advocates for anti-discrimination suits and lobbying efforts for a fair employment practices act.  In 1944, the Seattle NAACP, Urban League, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Seattle YWCA, and more organizations formed a coalition to lobby in Olympia for such an act, modeling it after President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 that “mandated a permanent state agency to prohibit racial discrimination in employment and to monitor compliance” (Taylor 171).  Although the Washington Federation of Labor denied the proposal due to it seeming “communist-inspired,” the same coalition with more proponents in 1947 reintroduced the measure, leading to the passing of the Fair Employment Practices Act in 1949.  Specifically, this act declared discrimination a “matter of state concern” and prohibited bias “because of race, creed, color or national origin.”  Furthermore, the Washington State Board Against Discrimination was established as an overarching monitor of compliance (Taylor 171-172).

The following video articulates the Seattle NAACP’s movement to foster respectful and dignified treatment toward African Americans by police officers in Seattle.  Former president Charles V. Johnson and member of the NAACP Executive Board speaks on this, known as the Freedom Patrols.

Open housing became a prominent issue during the 1950s-60s as efforts began to move members of the Black community out of the Central District, an area evident of residential segregation.  The Seattle NAACP, with other organizations, consistently pushed for fair housing ordinance, but aspirations were diminished when Supreme Court Judge James W. Hodson overruled the Omnibus Civil Rights Act of 1957 making housing discrimination illegal in the case of O’Meara vs. Washington State Board Against Discrimination. He ruled the owner of private property retains control over whom he or she will deal with.  The Seattle NAACP, supported by a community of individuals and organizations, began campaigning for a citywide open housing ordinance, leading to protests at City Hall.  Eventually, the Seattle City Council agreed to create a Human Rights Commission to draft the ordinance, which was placed on the 1964 ballot following the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington D.C.  The landslide rejection of this ordinance resulted from white fears of declining market values in areas housing Black communities, sparking racial violence:

“In the suburb of Kent, for example, shotgun blasts were fired into the homes of two black families” (Taylor 205).  Still determined to incite change, president E. June Smith declared, “We are not going to rest until this city becomes in truth an All-American city” (Taylor 205).

As Black communities engaged in sit-ins for direct action and supportive white residents began volunteering in the Fair Housing Listing Service as well as other fair housing organizations, such voluntary action contributed to Black residents’ ability to move out of the Central District by 1965.  In addition, programs were initiated to rehabilitate impoverished areas and “condemned houses” on the edge of white neighborhoods.

The Seattle NAACP supported boycotts against segregation in schools, leading to the establishment of a Middle School Desegregation Plan in 1970.  Never being finished, the NAACP threatened the Seattle Central Area school district with a lawsuit.  The Seattle Plan was adopted for mandatory desegregation of schools in 1977 (Seattle King County NAACP).

More recently, June 27, 2009 marked the 2nd African American Legislative day held by the branch.  This event engages the Black community with political officials, incites feelings of positivity and purpose in dealing with political issues, and attempts to increase the participation of African Americans in local politics.  People can register to vote, take workshops to learn about the legislative process, and become involved in the most significant issues affecting the African American community (Seattle King County NAACP).

In 2015, following the Charleston church mass shooting, the Seattle branch held a rally in honor of the nine African American victims with the Washington Christian Leadership coalition.  This demonstration portrayed solidarity with their deceased brothers and sisters, gathering the surrounding community as one (Seattle King County NAACP).

SIGNIFICANCE

The significance of the NAACP to communities of color and the broader community is to create a system of support for those who need it. It was created in a time when people of color were especially marginalized from society and needed resources to solidify their place in society and build a base to grow from there. Since then, the role of the NAACP has become more of an advocacy group for these same marginalized peoples. Because of the changing ways that Black people have been and continue to be integrated into and marginalized by society, their main roles focus on the enforcement of the laws to protect the rights of people of color. 

From the website of the NAACP:

“Objectives

The following statement of objectives is found on the first page of the NAACP Constitution – the principal objectives of the Association shall be:

To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens

To achieve the equality of rights and to eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States

To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes

To see enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights

To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination

To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to ensure this exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP’s Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution”

Through these objectives, the NAACP is able to use their position to the advantage of the people it serves. With this ability, they can address the current concerns of those who need their assistance by adapting their objectives to whatever is most important to them.

COURSE CONNECTIONS

The persistence of the Seattle NAACP throughout the course of its history is attributed to the course concept of the psychohistory and psychological understandings of African Americans.  The field of psychohistory analyzes how the historical experiences of Black society during slavery and segregation influence their contemporary methods of liberation (IAAS 186).

“[E]ach succeeding generation of African Americans continues to advocate and seek more integration rather than strategic independence from oppressive forces” (IAAS 186).

As told by Quintard Taylor in The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1970 through the Civil Rights Era, the Seattle NAACP lost momentum with the emergence of the Black nationalist UNIA.  It was criticized for emphasizing integration over African self-sufficiency and independence.  Knowledge of analyses within the field of psychohistory draw connections with the historical fear of slaves when running from slaveowners.  Any expression of the desire to be free and independent by slaves during slavery would be met with punishment and in many cases, death.  This was because such behaviors threatened the legitimacy and dominant role of White society and slaveowners.  Therefore, the NAACP’s reluctance to adopt Black nationalism and fight for African independence is possibly connected to the fears of slaves to fully challenge White authority.  Advocating for integration advances the positions of African Americans in society, but also presents a milder approach for equality that pleases more Whites.  Many White members were also added to the branch due to believing this posed great benefit in fundraising and the understanding of the broader community, reflective of the “psychohistorical dilemma that reinforces dependency on Whites” (IAAS 186).

However, the role of White folk in the Seattle NAACP does not undermine the persistence of African Americans to mobilize for their integration in society.  Constantly faced with struggles such as lawmakers delaying the passing of vital legislation, racist expressions in the community such as the showing of Birth of a Nation, and even the Supreme Court perpetuating residential segregation by overriding previous legislation, The Seattle NAACP refused to become discouraged.  Its mere existence and continual advocacy to this day is evident of how “African Americans may also push themselves harder to overcome the stereotypes of being Black and to succeed” (IAAS 189).  When analyzed through psychohistory, this unrelenting determination stems from the experiences of slavery.  Centuries of toil, stress, and being pushed to the maximum capacity of  physical and emotional exertion passes down through generations of African Americans, resulting in their refusal to accept society’s establishment of their inferiority.

Some of the most monumental actions of the Seattle NAACP involved major issues such as housing segregation and employment discrimination.  For example, concentrating the Black population in the Central Area and refusing to let this community move outside of this region exemplified redlining, a nationwide issue from segregation to integration resting in institutionalized racism.  Furthermore, the branch’s involvement in establishing a Fair Employment Practices Act although faced with rejection before its passing was an effort to combat discriminatory practices contributing to wealth disparities between White and Black folk.  Although key concepts in Black Studies, psychohistory underlies the efforts of the Seattle NAACP to deal with such issues and execute policy to solve them over time.​

WHY IT STILL MATTERS

The mandate of the NAACP is still “ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice” (NAACP). As long as political, educational, social and economic inequality exists in the US, the NAACP still matters.

Current NAACP campaigns illustrate why the organization remains relevant. The Seattle King County NAACP successfully lobbied for the passage of HB 1453, a bill which enhances protections for rental tenants against evictions. HB 1453 is relevant to the NAACP because black renters face disproportionally high rates of eviction.

The NAACP’s successful aid in passing HB 1453 illustrates the crucial importance of the organization to “help…elected officials…to better understand the issues that disproportionally impact people of color, who are often the most vulnerable in society” (Sakin 1).

Another recent campaign illustrative of the continuing relevancy of the NAACP is the organization’s drive for the Washington Attorney General’s Office, rather than the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, to investigate police-perpetrated shootings

The Seattle King County NAACP claims that the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office “has never exercised its authority to call for a criminal investigation of police-involved shootings in over a decade” (NAACP). The NAACP asserts that Washington State Attorney General’s Office is better able to operate independently of the Seattle Police Department and gain the trust of the community. Therefore, they recommend a change in the norms for prosecution.

Police brutality is an issue of unique significance to the black community. The NAACP is at the forefront of fighting for greater justice through legislative change. Therefore, the Seattle King County NAACP still matters greatly.

References

Sakin, Sadiqa. “NAACP Issues Statement On Eviction Bill”. Seattle Medium. 8 March, 2019. 

Sakin, Sadiqa. “NAACP Calling On Attorney General’s Office To Oversee Investigation In The Shooting Death Of Iosia Faletogo By Seattle Police”. Seattle Medium. 23 January, 2019.

Seattle NAACP. Seattle King County NAACP #1136. NAACP, 2019. Web.

Taylor, Quintard. The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1994.