Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1956-08-10
by Calvin Lyle in August
CorOnet Magazine

Coronet Magazine
Continued from Aug. edition.
The NAAcP already Ia sngag.
ed in q drive to secure 1900. 900
Negro voters In the South by the
1850 presidential election. Field
workers win be assigned law
yers will be available"
Such detectives now have the
weight OF q mass movement. But
It In only comparatively recently
that this could be said. Through
out the 1905 the NAACP's board
remained white-dominated and It's
membership almost exclusively
Northern. Most Of its Negro mem
berHhip was among intellectuals
and professional people--so much
so that II was known by many
working class Negroes a. the ma
tlonal Association for the Ad-
yancemsnt Of Certain People"
In the South, membership was
spotty and virtually underground
To white Southernsrs who knew Of
II, the NA,ACP was a dangerous
and radical influence. a NEEDLE
some" outfit run by g noisy clique
OF New Workers. Negroes general
Iy did not risk the white boss dis
pleasure by joining.
Most white Southerners saw the
NAACP either In the image or the
shadow OF one man Walter
White. who served A. executive.
secretary from 1890 until his
death last year. whites nagginEs
at Congressional hearings. his
newspapers articles. his relentless
and brazeniy frontal attack on
Southern traditions. made him q
conhthnt lrrltAut-
Az recently an io42. the MA
ACP'S total membership was only
50, 900. But after World War II.
membership started booming. 10
that today the NAACP has over
100000 members and 1900
branches In - states. with IS per-
cent of the membership and 90
per cent OF the branches In the
South. Most OF the present mem
bers are middie-ciass and lower
class Negroes. Whites now repre-
sent less than ten per cent Of the
total membership figure.
The organizations national
headquarters occupies two and q
half stories In the Wendell wiIlkie
Memorial In New York City. In
addition. II maintains q legisla-
tive bureau in Washington and
three regional offices: In Birming-
ham. Dallas and San Francisco. II
has % paid staff members. a few
Of them white.
Last year the national office
took In S63t.785. a far cry from
the S3o 900 q year II operated on
In the sos. It's branches raised
an additional 1891. 900 and It's L.
gal Defense and Educational Fund.
which operates on . separate bud
get. collected s7ia.sto, Total for
1855; u.i79. COS.
Most OF this money came from
the rank and file. whose - dues
are split between the branches and
the national office Sale Of MA
ACP Christmas seals brought In
more than $4,000. and the rest
was made up Of special eontrtbu-
tons and $500 life memberships.
Contributions 10 the NAACP
proper are not tax exempt be-
cause Of Its poaition an q register
ed lobbyist In Washington. But
gifts to the Legal Fund are. and
among the heavier contributors
last year were the Fund for the
Republic (too,o0o) and the Philip
Murray Memorial Foundation
t,7S. ooo),
iAfe members in the NAACP
are identified on q bronze plaque
In the national hsadquarters' re-
ception room, Some Of the more
prominent ones; Marshall Field.
Arthur Godfrey, Horace Heidi.
Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt. Wendell
wiilkis the gave 5000 Of his
royalties from One worid'l
Richard Rogers and Jawaharial
Nehru.
BY tradition. the NAAcP's
president IL white man. Since
1910 he has been Arthur u Sping-
arm, a New York lawyer long ac-
tive In civil-iberties circles.
Chairman Of the board Is Or.
Claiming Tobias, a former YMcA
official who Is widely thought Of
ss the elder Negro statesman.
But IN the public mind. NAAcP
today Is largely personined by
rhurEood Marshall. its special
counsel, and Roy wilkins, its ex-
ecutive secretary, Marshall. a.. 10
I tall, vigorous six-tootsr, who