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African American Studies 101 | Livi, Kalina, Jakhai, & Alex<\/p>\n
FOUNDING<\/strong><\/p>\n The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was first established in New York in 1909.\u00a0 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.”\u00a0 The Seattle branch of the NAACP was founded in 1913 and is\u00a0one of the\u00a0earliest branches West of the Mississippi River.\u00a0 It was founded by a prominent list of middle-class residents in Seattle:<\/p>\n Many of the founders were women, and a multitude of white members\u00a0were 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).\u00a0 Although composed of white and Black members, the Seattle NAACP was established in the Central Area on Dearborn St. and 23rd Ave.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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).<\/p>\n GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n 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\u00a0community slowly developed in this Central Area of Seattle.\u00a0 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).\u00a0\u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n One of the first major accomplishments of the Seattle NAACP was removing the showing of\u00a0Birth of a Nation<\/em> from theaters within the city in 1915.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Stating how she feared\u00a0“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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 As an organization built for civil rights, the branch believed this to be a vital effort in promoting its\u00a0purpose of opposing discriminatory legislation.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Appealing to Seattle’s small Black population, the promise of returning\u00a0people to Africa was coupled with an increase in racial pride.\u00a0 The Seattle NAACP was eventually “declared dormant” by the national office in New York (Seattle King County NAACP).<\/p>\n Once the Great Depression hit, the branch began to revitalize itself by focusing on integrating Black society into the job sector for economic healing.\u00a0 It took on many cases of employment discrimination, including one in which\u00a0attorney Clarence Anderson was attacked by assistant tax collector Edward S. Streeter.\u00a0 With rage and resentment, Streeter asserted, “This is a white man’s office and a white man’s country” (Taylor 93).\u00a0 The NAACP exposed this investigation along with many others, receiving substantial publicity and providing awareness to the population.<\/p>\n More growth for the Seattle NAACP occurred during WWII with the continuation of remaining vocal against injustices toward African Americans in the employment sector.\u00a0 During the 1940s, the branch’s staff expanded,\u00a0and 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.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Although\u00a0the 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.\u00a0 Specifically, this act declared discrimination a “matter of state concern” and prohibited bias “because of race, creed, color or national origin.”\u00a0 Furthermore, the Washington State Board Against Discrimination was established as an overarching monitor of compliance (Taylor 171-172).<\/p>\n The following video articulates the Seattle NAACP’s movement to foster respectful and dignified treatment toward African Americans by police officers in Seattle.\u00a0 Former president Charles V. Johnson and member of the NAACP Executive Board speaks on this, known as the Freedom Patrols.<\/p>\n\n
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