NAACP celebrates 100th anniversary
Allia Carter, advisor of GCSU NAACP and the 2009 Flagg Social Justice Legacy Award University Honoree, has been a member of NAACP for over 20 years and is proud of all the organization has done.
“Turning 100 shows that NAACP is a rooted organization and that it’s not going anywhere,” said Carter. “I believe in equality and justice for all, and that is what NAACP is founded on.”
Nationally, the NAACP organization was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, by a multiracial group of activists in New York City. In the midst of intimidating adversity, NAACP grew into a nationwide organization with leaders such as Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villiard and William English Walling. Battling the Ku Klux Klan, racists and even the law, they succeeded in winning historical cases, such as Brown vs. Board of Education.
The GCSU NAACP Collegiate Chapter began on May 1, 2003. The current GCSU NAACP president, Jessica Mclin, is proud to be involved with an organization that greatly impacts the lives of so many people.
“I joined NAACP because I wanted to be a part of an organization that was open to people of all cultures and backgrounds that were willing to talk about any political or social issues that were happening in their lives today,” said Mclin.
Since their founding, the GCSU NAACP has led and organized numerous events, the most well-known being GCSU Idol.
“NAACP likes to put on GCSU Idol because it brings all different types of people together,” said Marcus Green, president of the Black Student Alliance, student ambassador and NAACP treasurer.
NAACP’s focus for the 2008-2009 academic school year is to increase awareness and education in the community. The GCSU collegiate chapter seeks to have a multiracial assembly, since all 15 members are now African-American.
“NAACP is typically viewed as a minority group, but in reality most of the founders were Caucasian women. We are attempting to break down that stigma,” said Green. “For us to be a liberal arts institution we do not have enough students seeking to understand progressive issues.”
One of the ways the GCSU NAACP chapter is striving to increase multiracial interest and membership is by encouraging other leading, progressive student organizations to get involved.
“The generation now is not so big on movement,” said Carter. “They are more self-centered. People need to take the opportunity to get involved – and that is what NAACP is trying to do.”
Advocating for the poor, gender rights and people facing social injustice, the NAACP’s most recent strides in society dealt with the Jena Six Case. When the accusations against the six were taken to court, the GCSU NAACP rallied professors and students to wear black to recognize the events.
“NAACP still has a lot of work to do today. A line of fairness and equality needs to be reached,” said Green. “Until we get rid of racial issues, NAACP cannot subside.”
When the NAACP was founded in 1909, words like “colored” were still socially acceptable, and segregation was a newly introduced idea. Equality for all, although prescribed in the Declaration of Independence, was only a dream for many. Although American society has come far from this era, the GCSU Collegiate Chapter of NAACP shows that there are still many arenas needing expansion in order to ensure the freedom and equality for everyone.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 27 2009. Filed under News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
