Published: October 14, 2009 11:09 pm      

ANNIVERSARY: NAACP celebrating 100 years

The Niagara Falls branch of the NAACP is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the founding of the organization.

The NAACP is an all-inclusive, multi-racial, national organization. Its celebration will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday at New Hope Baptist Church, 1122 Buffalo Ave. The Rev. Harvey Kelley is pastor of New Hope.

Featured performances will include the New Hope Baptist Church’s Mass Chorus, Mount Erie Baptist Church’s male chorus, the Mount Erie Evangelist Choir, St. John’s AME choir, The Mount Zion young adult/adult choir and a solo by the Rev. Kirby Freeman, pastor of New Trenton Baptist Church, Ohio. In addition, youth affiliated with the NAACP will be assisting in handing out awards at the ceremony.

The event’s special guest is the Rev. Floyd L. Narcisse, pastor of First AME Church of Lockport. He will speak on the history of the NAACP and its connection to the Niagara Movement and the Falls.

There will also be readings from the Rev. Arthur Todd, pastor of Grace Community Ministries, and Don King, a valued lifetime NAACP member.

In addition, 100 balloons will be released and all proceeds will go toward a newly established scholarship. This event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, and is the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization. The group conducts voter mobilization and monitors equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

The group’s mission is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Ill. The predecessor of the NAACP was the Niagara Movement, begun in 1905 in Niagara Falls under the focus of W.E.B. Du Bois.

To its credits, in 1930 the NAACP commissioned the Margold Report which became the basis for the successful reversal of the seperate-but-equal doctrine that had governed public facilities since 1896’s Brown v. Board of Education.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt ultimately agreed to open thousands of jobs to black workers when the NAACP supported labor leader A. Philip Randolph and his march on Washington movement in 1941.

The NAACP not only helped advance the integration of the Armed Forces in 1948 but also the passage of the Civil Rights acts of 1957, 1964 and 1968 as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Heading farther into the 21st century, the NAACP is focused on disparities in economics, health care, education, voter empowerment and the criminal justice system while continuing its role as legal advocate for civil rights issues. It was the talent and tenacity of NAACP members that saved lives and changed many negative aspects of American society.

The true movement lies in the faces — black, white, yellow, red and brown — united to awaken the consciousness of a people and a nation. The NAACP will remain vigilant in its mission until the promise of America is made real for all Americans.

Michael B. Majors is the communications director for the Niagara Falls chapter of the NAACP. Bill Bradberry is the chapter president.