H. Con. Res. 289 
Agreed to March 5, 2008 
One Hundred Tenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and eight 
Concurrent Resolution 
Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 
People (NAACP), originally known as the National Negro Com-
mittee, was founded in New York City on February 12, 1909, 
the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, by a multiracial group 
of activists who answered ‘The Call’ for a national conference 
to discuss the civil and political rights of African-Americans; 
Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 
People was founded by a distinguished group of leaders in the 
struggle for civil and political liberty, including Ida Wells-Barnett, 
W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald 
Garrison Villard, and William English Walling; 
Whereas the NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights organiza-
tion in the United States; 
Whereas the mission of the NAACP is to ensure the political, 
educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons 
and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination; 
Whereas the NAACP is committed to achieving its goals through 
nonviolence; 
Whereas the NAACP advances its mission through reliance upon 
the press, the petition, the ballot, and the courts, and has been 
persistent in the use of legal and moral persuasion, even in 
the face of overt and violent racial hostility; 
Whereas the NAACP has used political pressure, marches, dem-
onstrations, and effective lobbying to serve as the voice, as well 
as the shield, for minority Americans; 
Whereas after years of fighting segregation in public schools, the 
NAACP, under the leadership of Special Counsel Thurgood Mar-
shall, won one of its greatest legal victories in the Supreme 
Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education; 
Whereas in 1955, NAACP member Rosa Parks was arrested and 
fined for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 
Montgomery, Alabama—an act of courage that would serve as 
the catalyst for the largest grassroots civil rights movement in 
the history of the United States; 
Whereas the NAACP was prominent in lobbying for the passage 
of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and 
Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and 
Amendments Act of 2006, and the Fair Housing Act, laws which 
ensured Government protection for legal victories achieved;
H. Con. Res. 289—2 
Whereas in 2005, the National Association for the Advancement 
of Colored People launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help 
survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Alabama 
to rebuild their lives; and 
Whereas in 2007, the NAACP was prominent in lobbying for the 
passage of H. Res. 826, ‘‘The Noose Intimidation Bill’’, which 
expresses ‘‘that the hanging of nooses is a horrible act when 
used for the purpose of intimidation and which under certain 
circumstances can be a criminal act that should be thoroughly 
investigated by Federal law enforcement authorities and that 
any criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted’’: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concur-
ring), That the Congress— 
(1) recognizes the 99th anniversary of the historic founding 
of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 
People; and 
(2) honors and praises the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People on the occasion of its anniver-
sary for its work to ensure the political, educational, social, 
and economic equality of all persons. 
Attest: 
Clerk of the House of Representatives. 
Attest: 
Secretary of the Senate.