NAACP Cabinet - 1909

NAACP Cabinet - 1909 Letter from the Chairs: Hello! My name is Laetitia Hollard, and I’m a senior at McFarland High School. I’ve been organizing a lot of actions in support of Black Liberation these last few months. Thanks to all my experience with Model UN, I was able to sponsor three resolutions towards diversity, equity, and inclusion that passed in the McFarland Village board and the McFarland School District, and create the first DEI committee in McFarland. This kind of social action inspired me to create a committee in MADMUN motivated by ideas of equality and justice. I believe it’s important for everyone to recognize the extra challenges Black Americans face when working with policy and fighting for their human rights. I challenge you in this committee to constantly reflect on how the issues that this committee faces connects to current events and issues. Let this empower you to create the change this world needs. Hi, I’m Esther Kassel! I’m a senior at Verona Area High School and also your Chief Strategy Officer at MADMUN. When I’m not planning this committee with Laetitia, I’m reading, painting, or organizing social action events with my Jewish Youth Group. I care very deeply for my community and I believe that through self-reflection, empathy, and understanding, we can motivate positive change. I would like you, as a student, to use this committee to understand the massive amount of challenges the pioneers of the Black Liberation movement had to go through to get where we are today. Obviously, we still have a long way to go, but hopefully you’ll use the knowledge and understanding you’ve gained from this committee and apply it to combat modern day issues impacting Black Americans. For non-black committee members: I also hope this committee empowers you to become a better ally and for you to amplify Black voices and Black platforms. Have any questions? Need more resources for research? Confused about our committee? Please reach out by emailing either Laetitia or Esther: Laetitia’s contact: [email protected] Esther’s contact: [email protected] History of Springfield Riots In the August of 1908, the white population of Springfield, Illinois quickly reacted to reports that a white woman was assaulted in her home by a Black man. Another report was made of a Black man assaulting a white woman just hours later. The police took both men, Joe James and George Richardson, into custody. These reports being announced so close together caused white supremacists to mobilize and create a mob in Springfield. The mob assembled outside of Sangamon County Courthouse to lynch the men in custody. When the Sheriff announced to the mob that the men had been moved to an undisclosed location, the mob turned its wrath to two nearby Black men. The first victim of the mob, Scott Burton, was killed when he used his shotgun in an attempt to save his life and home when the mob started shooting at him. The second, William Donegan, was killed as his reputation was long tainted since he had been married to a white woman for over 30 years. After the murders, the mobs weren’t appeased, and continued to vent their fury upon the homes of Black families in Springfield. The leaders carefully directed participants to destroy homes and businesses that were owned by Black people or served Black customers within Springfield and nearby towns. All white businesses remained untouched. Some Black civilians of Springfield fought in self-defense. However, when the destruction was finally over, six Black people were shot and killed, two were lynched, and over 2,000 African Americans were forced to leave the city, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property destroyed. Grandfather Clause After the Civil War, the 15th amendment was enacted in 1870. It signified the fulfillment of all promises to Black Americans who were set free by the 13th Amendment. Black males were given the vote by the 15th Amendment, and from that point, former abolitionists and the radical republican congressmen felt that they had fulfilled their promises, leaving Black Americans to fend for themselves. Despite the 15th amendment, Black Americans, especially those in the south, were kept from voting in large numbers for centuries more. Various requirements were created by states, including but not limited to literacy tests, poll taxes, and constitutional quizzes. These were created to keep Black Americans from registering to vote. Quickly, however, legislators realized that this law also negatively affected poor whites who were at risk of losing their voting rights. Their solution was a law that made men eligible to vote if they were able to vote before Black-Americans were given the franchise, or gave the right to people who were the descendants of voters who could vote during that period. Half a dozen states passed these laws, known as the Grandfather Clause. Most state legislatures would enact grandfather clauses even though they knew they were “grossly unconstitutional”. Most states would therefore include a time limit on the Grandfather Clause in hopes that many white people would register to vote before the clause was struck down by the courts. With Black Americans lacking the resources to follow suit, it is up to this committee to find ways to challenge the Grandfather Clause to the best of your abilities. Committee Members: 1. W.E.B. du Bois Before William Edward Burghardt Du Bois’ involvement with the NAACP, he had already gained the titles of civil rights activist, sociologist, educator, and writer. Du Bois’ intellect and passion for knowledge led him to become the first African-American to receive a doctorate from Harvard University in 1895 and teach Greek, Latin, sociology, economics, and history at several different universities in the U.S. He believed that capitalism was a major cause of racism, and he was largely sympathetic to socialist causes. In his 1903 work, The Souls of Black Folk, du Bois reflects that “to be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.” Du Bois had also made known his anti-colonial beliefs, and debunked racist white supremacist ideology, through his novel The World and Africa, where he details the history of Africa before the European exploration, enslavement, and colonization of Africa. 2. Ida B. Wells After the Civil War ended, Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s parents became politically active in Reconstruction Era politics, which instilled the importance of education into her. B. Wells became an educator to support her family after yellow fever took her parents. B. Wells found her start as an anti-lynching journalist. She investigated several cases of anti-black white mob violence, published her discoveries in a pamphlet, and wrote several columns in local newspapers in 1892. Her published articles on lynching eventually enraged locals, who drove her to Memphis and eventually Chicago, Illinois. In addition to being an educator and journalist, B. Wells was an active member of the women’s suffrage movement, despite being excluded and ridiculed by white women in the movement. In 1896, B. Wells, alongside other prominent African-American female activists, founded the National Association of Colored Women’s Club to address issues dealing with civil rights and women’s suffrage. 3. Mary White Ovington Mary White Ovington was born from supporters of the women’s rights movement and members of the anti-slavery movement. Educated and involved in politics from a young age, Ovington became involved in the civil rights movement in 1890 after hearing Frederick Douglass speak in a Brooklyn church. In 1895, she became involved in the Greenwich House Project, became the head of the project the following year, and remained on the project until 1904 when she was appointed as a fellow of the Greenwich House Committee on Social Investigations. Inspired by the ideas of socialist activist William Morris, Ovington joined the Socialist Party in 1905 and began writing for radical journals and newspapers such as The Masses, the New York Evening Post, and The Call. On September 3, 1908, Ovington read an article written by socialist William English Walling entitled “Race War in the North” in The Independent, which described the events of the Springfield Race riots. Ovington then decided to contact Walling and meet at his apartment in New York City, along with social worker Dr. Henry Moskowitz, where they decided to launch a “call” for a national conference on the civil and political rights of African-Americans. 4. Henry Moskowitz Born into a Jewish household in Husse, Romania, Henry Moskowitz and his family migrated to the United States in 1883, where he attended New York City public schools. Only a year later, he graduated from the City College of New York in 1899 and subsequently earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Erlangen, Germany, in 1906. In 1907, Moskowitz helped organize the Madison House of the Downtown Ethical Society, a non-profit settlement house to combat serious issues that the then-growing immigrant population dealt with. Moskowitz was a practicing social worker in the early 1900s and continued his activism in the Ethical Culture Society, which allegedly began under a German-Jewish New Yorker, Professor Felix Adler. 5. Moorfield Storey Moorfield Storey was born to an abolitionist mother, whom he took after, especially later in life. His comfortable yet not necessarily wealthy background allowed him to pursue an independent course in life. As an undergraduate in university, he often skipped classes to go fishing or partied into the early hours of the morning.

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