109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 335
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People (NAACP), originally known as the Na-
tional Negro Committee, was founded in New York City 
on February 12, 1909, the centennial of Abraham Lin-
coln’s birth, by a multiracial group of activists who an-
swered ‘‘The Call’’ for a national conference to discuss 
the civil and political rights of African Americans;
•HCON 335 EH 
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, in-
cluding Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry 
Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison 
Villiard, and William English Walling; 
Whereas the NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights or-
ganization 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 dis-
crimination; 
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 per-
suasion, even in the face of overt and violent racial hos-
tility; 
Whereas the NAACP has used political pressure, marches, 
demonstrations, and effective lobbying to serve 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 Marshall, 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
•HCON 335 EH 
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 pas-
sage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, 
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing 
Act, laws which ensured Government protection for legal 
victories achieved; and 
Whereas in 2005, the National Association for the Advance-
ment of Colored People launched the Disaster Relief 
Fund to help survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, 
Florida, and Alabama to rebuild their lives: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That the Congress—
(1) recognizes the 97th anniversary of the his-
toric 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 occa-
sion of its anniversary for its work to ensure the po-
litical, educational, social, and economic equality of 
all persons.
Passed the House of Representatives March 1, 
2006. 
Attest:
Clerk.
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 335
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Honoring and praising the National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People on the occa-
sion of its 97th anniversary.