The foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, was sparked by a violent two-day race riot in Abraham Lincoln's birthplace of Springfield, Illinois in 1908. After minority-owned businesses were destroyed and African Americans were driven from their homes, a group of liberal-thinkers gathered in the hopes of forming a civil rights organization. The National Negro Committee was founded on February 12th, 1909 to commemorate Lincoln's 100th birthday, and soon it became the NAACP. In the century that followed, the group worked within the court system to eliminate Jim Crow laws, prevent lynching, and to generally ensure civil rights for all. In this video, http://www.WatchMojo.com learns more about the history of the NAACP. read more...
VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
