Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1949-02-19

The Lincoln day call, initiated
by Mary White Ovington, and
written by Oswald GaGGrrison
Willard, grandson of the fiery
Boston Abolitionist, William LLOYD
Garrison, was signed by 81 other
educators, puhlicists, social work
ers and religious leaders. Of the
SO founders, seven survive includ-
ing in addition to Miss Ovington
and Mr.. Willard, Prof. John Dewey,
Dr.. w. e. E. Dubois, DR.. Hamil-
ton Holt, the Rev. John Haynes
Holmes and Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise.
Serving the Association over
the years as members of the
board of directors, staff workers
Or leaders of local branches have
been many outstanding Ameri-
cans, both Negro and white. The
board has alweys included in it's
membership some of the most i'm
pressive names in American life.
Among these have been Moorfield
Storey, the first president of the
Association; his successors, the
Spingarn brothers, Joel e. and
Arthur B.; Senator Arthur Cap
per, Jane Adams, Charles Ed
ward Russell, Mary B. Talbert,
Bishop John Hurst, Lillian D.
Wald, Charming H. Tobias, Flea
nor Roosevelt, A. Philip Randolph
Godfrey Lowell Cabot, Philip Muir
ray Rev. A. Clayton Powell, Sr.,
Ohio State Senator Harry E.
Davis, DR.. Louis T. Wright, Judge
Ira w. Jayne, Prof. S. Ralph Har-
low, Walter Reuther, Judge Jane
Bolin and Bishop John A. Gregg.
Among nationally known per
sons who have worked on the
NAACP staff are DR.. Dubois, the
first editor of The Crisis and
later director of special research;
James Weldon Johnson, the
erudite diplomat, poet and song
writer; William Pickens, the ia
nous orator; Charles Houston,
the brilliant lawyer who served
as the Associations first full-time
special counsel and Mrs. Daisy
Lampkin, for 10 years an effec-
tive organizer for the Association.
The present staff is headed by
Walter White, who has been the
executive secretary since 1881.
The Anti-Lynching Drive
Striking contrasts in the status
Of Negro Americans today as COM
pared with conditions forty years
ago illustrate graphically the
effectiveness of the Associations
vigilance and it's militant cam
paign for equality. Due in part,
at least, to the NAACP'S sus-
tanned drive for federal anti
lynching legislation, the annual
number of deaths by mob violence
has been drastically reduced from
100 at that time to two last year.
Directly traceable to the work OF
the Association is the vastly eX-
banded Southern Negro vote,
which in 1909 had all blu tdisap-
peared in the sub-Potomac states
from Virginia to Texas. The Ne
gro's right to vote was re-estab-
lished by a series of court actions
instituted by the NAACP, invali-
dating the devious devices en-
ployed by the Southern states to
disfranchise colored citizens.
Inc campaign against Iynching
and the hard-fought battle for the
vote are but two of the important
achievements of the NAACP.
Working always within the consti-
tutional framework of our govern
ment, the Association has con-
Quoted it's battle against dis
elimination and segregation
through legal action, legislative
pressure and an educational cam
paign. 1t has won for increasing
numbers of Negroes the right to
live where they choose, the right
to secure a decent education, the
right to aspire to the vocations
they prefer and to seek training
for these vocations, and the right
to a fair trial It has made pro-
gress in combating discrimination
nj the armed forces, in attacking
Jim Grow in interstate travel and
in elualizing teachers salaries.
Seeks MiIlion-DoIIar Fund.
In it's legislative program the
Association has pressed for civil
rights and other social welfare