The NAACP, or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has been an important organization in our history. Without them, who knows what America would be like today?
Founded in 1909 by a multiracial group of activists whose goal was that there be equality of rights for all people, the NAACP has worked long and hard to get where they are today. They started fighting legal cases that could involve racial discrimination, such as Pink Franklin case, which involved a black farmhand who killed a police officer for coming into his home. They’ve protested bigoted movies, public demonstration, segregation, and so much more.
Rosa Parks, a well-known figure in history and known to some as the catalyst to the Civil Rights Movement was a member of the NAACP has affected America’s History.
The NAACP has affected Jacksonville’s history as well and is a great part of Lavilla’s Living Legacy. Rutledge Pearson encouraged Rodney Hurst, born and raised in Jacksonville, when he was just eleven years old to join the NAACP and in 1959, he became the president. Rodney Hurst was also involvedin the Ax Handle Riot, which occurred after a lunch counter sit-in organized by the NAACP. This played a big role in Jacksonville’s history.The NAACP's theme song is called "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and it was written by James Weldon Johnson, another important person in Lavilla's Living Legacy.
written by Kai Hutson, 8th grade