A History of the Civil Rights Movement

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A History of the Civil Rights Movement

one of seven African Americans in attendance. The meeting led to the for mation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Its members were deter mined to see all Americans enjoy equal protection under the law. The NAACP took a multi-pronged approach to the struggle for equality. Du Bois launched and was the longtime editor of the organization’s magazine, Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) believed it was critical for African Americans to become edu cated so they could succeed economically in the post–Civil War South.

called The Crisis . In its pages, talented writers chronicled the evils of racism and made the case for civil rights. The NAACP undertook a campaign against lynching. It organized protests against a popular 1915 motion pic

ture, The Birth of a Nation , which glorified the Ku Klux Klan. The NAACP also mounted legal challenges to racist laws. In 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund was founded. Headed by a young African American lawyer named Thurgood Marshall, the Legal Defense Fund would fight segrega tion in the courts.

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963) was a major scholar and activist of the early 20th century. He helped to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. As editor of the NAACP’s mag azine, The Crisis , he attacked racism and oppression.