How the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began

By MARY WHITE OVINGTON

NATIONAL AssociATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT oF CoLORED PEOPLE 20 WEST 40th STREET, NEW YORK 18, N. Y.

MARY DUNLOP MACLEAN MEMORIAL FUND First Printing 1914 HOW THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE BEGAN

By MARY WHITE OVINGTON (As Originally printed in 1914)

HE National Association for the studying the status of the Negro in T Advancement of Colored People New York. I had investigated his hous­ is five years old-old enough, it is be­ ing conditions, his health, his oppor­ lieved, to have a history; and I, who tunities for work. I had spent many am perhaps its first member, have months in the South, and at the time been chosen as the person to recite it. of Mr. Walling's article, I was living As its work since 1910 has been set in a New York Negro tenement on a forth in its annual reports, I shall Negro street. And my investigations and make it my task to show how it came my surroundings led me to believe with into existence and to tell of its first the writer of the article that "the spirit months of work. of the abolitionists must be revived." In the summer of 1908, the country So I wrote to Mr. Walling, and after was shocked by the account of the race some time, for he was in the West, we riots at Springfield, Illinois. Here, in met in New York in-the first week of the home of Abraham Lincoln, a mob the year 1909. With us was Dr. Henry containing many of the town's "best Moskowitz, now prominent in the ad­ citizens," raged for two days, killed and ministration of John Purroy Mitchell, wounded scores of Negroes, and drove Mayor of New York. It was then that thousands from the city. Articles on the National Association for the Ad­ the subject appeared in newspapers and vancement of Colored People was born. magazines. Among them was one in the It was born in a little room of a Independent of September 3d, by Wil­ New York apartment. It is to be re­ liam English Walling, entitled "Race gretted that there are no minutes of War in the North." After describing the first meeting, for they would make the atrocities committed against the interesting if unparliamentary reading. colored people, Mr. Wailing declared: Mr. Walling had spent some years in "Either the spirit of the abolition­ Russia where his wife, working in the ists, of Lincoln and of Lovejoy must cause of the revolutionists, had suffered be revived and we must come to treat imprisonment; and he expressed his be­ the Negro on a plane of absolute po­ lief that the Negro was treated with litical and social equality, or Varda­ greater inhumanity in the United man and Tillman will soon have trans­ States than the Jew was treated in Rus­ ferred the race war to the North." And sia. As Mr. Walling is a Southerner we he ended with these words, "Yet who listened with conviction. I knew some­ realizes the seriousness of the situation, thing of the Negro's difficulty in se­ and what large and powerful body of curing decent employment in the North citizens is ready to come to their aid?" and of the insolent treatment awarded It so happened that one of Mr. Wal­ him at Northern hotels and restaurants, ling's readers accepted his question and and I voiced my protest. Dr. Mosko­ answered it. For four years I had been witz, with his broad knowledge of con-

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ditions among New York's helpless im­ gone in assuring to each and every citi­ migrants, aided us in properly inter­ zen, irrespective of color, the equality preting our facts. And so we talked of opportunity and equality before the and talked voicing our indignation. law, which underlie our American in­ Of course, we wanted to do some­ stitutions and are guaranteed by the thing at once that should move the Constitution? country. It was January. Why not "If Mr. Lincoln could revisit this choose Lincoln's birthday, February 12, country in the flesh, he would be dis­ to open our campaign? We decided, heartened and discouraged. He would therefore, that a wise, immediate ac­ learn that on January 1, 1909, Georgia tion would be the issuing on Lincoln's had rounded out a new confederacy birthday of a call for a national con­ by disfranchising the Negro, after the ference on the Negro question. At this manner of all the other Southern States. conference we might discover the be­ He would learn that the Supreme Court ginnings, at least, of that "large and of the United States, supposedly a bul­ powerful body of citizens" of which Mr. wark of American liberties, had refused Wailing had written. every opportunity to pass squarely upon And so the meeting adjourned. Some­ this disfranchisement of millions, by thing definite was determined upon, and laws avowedly discriminatory and open­ our next step was to call others into ly enforced in such manner that the our councils. We at once turned to white men may vote and black men Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, president be without a vote in their government; of the N. Y. Evening Post Company. he would discover, therefore, that taxa­ He received our suggestions with en­ tion without representation is the lot thusiasm, and aided us in securing the of millions of wealth-producing Ameri­ co-operation of able and representative can citizens, in whose hands rests the men and women. It was he who drafted economic progress and welfare of an the Lincoln's birthday call and helped entire section of the country. to give it wide publicity. I give the "He would learn that the Supreme Call in its entirety with the signatures Court, according to the official state­ since it expresses, I think, better than ment of one of its own judges in the anything else we have published, the Berea College case, has laid down the spirit of those who are active in the principle that if an individual State Association's cause. chooses, it may 'make it a crime for "The celebration of the Centennial white and colorethe nation's prog­ elected by one element in a community ress since 1865. to pass upon the liberties and lives of "How far has it lived up to the ob­ another. He would see the black men ligations imposed upon it by the Eman­ and women, for whose freedom a hun­ cipation Proclamation? How far has it dred thousand of soldiers gave their lives, set apart in trains, in which they lyn; Dr. John L. Elliott, New York; pay first-class fares for third-class ser­ W m. Lloyd Garrison, Boston; Rev. vice, and segregated in railway stations Francis J. Grimke, Washington, D. C.; and in places of entertainment; he William Dean Howells, New York; would observe that State after State de­ Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch, Chicago; Rev. clines to do its elementary duty in pre­ John Haynes Holmes, New York; Prof. paring the Negro through education Thomas C. Hall, New York; Hamilton for the best exercise of citizenship. Holt, New York; Florence Kelley, New "Added to this, the spread of law­ York; Rev. Frederick Lynch, New less attacks upon the Negro, North, York; Helen Marot, New York; John South, and West-even in the Spring­ E. Milholland, New York; Mary E. field made famous by Lincoln-often McDowell, Chicago; Prof. J. G. Mer­ accompanied by revolting brutalities, rill, Connecticut; Dr. Henry Mosko­ sparing neither sex nor age nor youth, witz, New York; Leonora O'Reilly, could but shock the author of the senti­ New York; Mary W. Ovington, New ment that 'government of the people, York; Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst, by the people, for the people; should New York; Louis F. Post, Chicago; not perish from the earth.' Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, New York; "Silence under these conditions Dr. Jane Robbins, New York; Charles means tacit approval. The indifference Edward Russell, New York; Joseph of the North is already responsible for Smith, Boston; Anna Garlin Spencer, more than one assault upon democ­ New York; William M. Salter, Chi­ racy, and every such attack reacts as cago; J. G. Phelps Stokes, New York; unfavorably upon whites as upon Judge Wendell Stafford, Washington; blacks. Discrimination once permitted Helen Stokes, Boston; Lincoln Steffens, cannot be bridled; recent history in the Boston; President C. F. Thwing, West­ South shows that in forging chains for ern Reserve University; Prof. W. I. the Negroes the white voters are forg­ Thomas, Chicago; Oswald Garrison ing chains for themselves. 'A house di­ Villard, New York Evening Post; Rabbi vided against itself cannot stand'; this Stephen S. Wise, New York; Bishop government cannot exist half-slave and Alexander Walters, New York; Dr. Wil­ half-free any better to-day than it could liam H . Ward, New York; Horace in 1861. White, New York; William English Walling, New York; Lillian D. Wald, "Hence we call upon all the believ­ New York; Dr. Milton Waldron, ers in democracy to .join in a national J. Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Rodman conference for the discussion of pres­ Wharton, Philadelphia; Susan P. Whar­ ent evils, the voicing of protests, and ton, Philadelphia; President Mary E. the renewal of the struggle for civil Woolley, Mt. Holyoke College; Prof. and political liberty." Charles Zueblin, Boston. This call was signed by: Jane Ad­ dams, Chicago; Samuel Bowles It was thus decided that we should (Springfield Republican}; Prof W. L. hold a conference, and the next two Bulkley, New York; Harriet Stanton months were busily spent arranging for Blatch, New York; Ida Wells Barnett, it. Among the men and women who Chicago; E. H. Clement, Boston; Kate attended those first committee meetings H. Claghorn, New York; Prof. John were, Bishop Alexander Walters, Mr. Dewey, New York; Dr. W. E. B. Du­ Ray Stannard Baker, Mr. Alexander Bois, Atlanta; Mary E.' Dreier, Brook- Irvine, Dr. Owen M. Waller, Mr. Gay- lord S. White, Miss Madeline Z. Doty, an excellent organizer, and at the end Miss Isabel Eaton, besides many of the of a year we had held four mass meet­ New York signers of the Call. It was ings, had distributed thousands of agreed that the conference should be pamphlets, and numbered our member­ by invitation only, with the one open ship in the hundreds. In May, 1910, meeting at Cooper Union. Over a we held our second conference in New thousand people were invited, the Char­ York, and again our meetings were at­ ity Organization Hall was secured, and, tended by earnest, interested people. It on the evening of May 30th, the con­ was then that we organized a perma­ ference opened with an informal recep­ nent body to be known as the National tion at the Henry Street Settlement, Association for the Advancement of given by Miss Lillian D. Wald, one of Colored People. Its officers were: the Association's first and oldest friends. National President, Moorfield Storey, The next morning our deliberations Boston; Chairman of the Executive began. Committee, William English Walling; We have had five conferences since Treasurer, John E. Milholland; Dis­ 1909, but I doubt whether any have bursing Treasurer, Oswald Garrison been so full of a questioning surprise, Villard; Executive Secretary, Frances amounting swiftly to enthusiasm, on Blascoer; Director of Publicity and Re­ the part of the white people in attend­ search, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois. ance. These men and women, engaged The securing of a sufficient financial in religious, social and educational support to warrant our calling Dr. Du­ work, for the first time met the Negro Bois from Atlanta University into an who demands, not a pittance, but his executive office in the Association was full rights in the commonwealth. They the most important work of the second received a stimulating shock and one conference. which they enjoyed. They did not want When Dr. DuBois carne -to us we to leave the meeting. We conferred all were brought closely in touch with an the time, formally and informally, and organization of colored people, formed the Association gained in those days in 1905 at Niagara and known as the many of the earnest and uncomprom­ Niagara Movement. This organization ising men and women who have since had held important conferences at Ni­ worked unfalteringly in its cause. Mr. agara, Harpers Ferry, and Boston, and William Hayes Ward, senior editor of had attempted a work of legal redress the Independent, opened the confer­ along very much the lines upon which ence, and Mr. Charles Edward Rus­ the National Association for the Ad­ sell, always the friend of those who vancement of Colored People was work­ struggle for opportunity, presided at ing. Its platform, as presented in a the stormy session at the close. The full statement in 1905, ran as follows: proceedings have been published by the Freedom of speech and criticism. Association. An unfettered and unsubsidized Out of this conference we formed a press. committee of forty and secured the ser­ Manhood suffrage. vices of Miss Frances Blascoer, as sec­ The abolition of all caste distinctions retary, We were greatly hampered by based simply on race and color. lack of funds. Important national work The recognition of the principle of would present itself which we were un­ human brotherhood as a practical pres­ able to handle. But our secretary was ent creed. The recogmtwn of the highest and our books. In November of 1910 ap­ best training as the monopoly of no peared the first number of THE CRisis, class or race. with Dr. DuBois as editor, and Mary A belief in the dignity of labor. Dunlop MacLean, whose death has United effort to realize these ideals been the greatest loss the Association under wise and courageous leadership. has known, as managing editor. Our propaganda work was put on a na­ In 1910 it had conducted important tional footing, our legal work was well civil rights cases and had in its mem­ under way and we were in truth, a bership some of the ablest colored National Association, pledged to a na­ lawyers in the country, with Mr. W. tion-wide work for justice to the Negro Ashbie Hawkins, who has since worked race. with our Association, on the Baltimore Segregation acts, as its treasurer. I remember the afternoon that THE CRISIS received its name. We were sit­ The Niagara Movement, hampered ting around the conventional table that as it was by lack of funds and by a seems a necessary adjunct to every membership confined to one race only, Board, and were having an informal continued to push slowly on, but when talk regarding the new magazine. We the larger possibilities of this new As­ touched the subject of poetry. sociation were clear, the members of the Niagara Movement were advised "There is a poem of Lowell's," I to join, as the platforms were practi­ said, "that means more to me to-day cally identical. Many of the most prom­ than any other poem in the world­ inent members of the Niagara Move­ 'The Present Crisis.' " ment thus brought their energy and Mr. Walling looked up. "The Crisis," ability into the service of the Associa­ he said. "There is the name for your tion, and eight are now serving on its magazine, THE CRISis.'' Board of Directors. And if we had a creed to which our Our history, after 1910, may be read members, black and white, our branches in our annual reports, and in the num­ North and South and East and West, bers of THE CRisis. We opened two our college societies, our children's offices in the Evening Post building. circles, should all subscribe, it should With Dr. DuBois came Mr. Frank M. be the lines of Lowell's noble verse, Turner, a Wilberforce graduate, who lines that are as true to-day as when has shown great efficiency in handling they were written seventy years ago:

l "Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood for the good or evil side; Some great Cause, God's New Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light.

"Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to be just; Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied."

l L OFFICERS FOR 1954 NATIONAL OFFICERS EXECUTIVE OFFICERS President WALTER WHITE, Executive Secretary ARTHUR B. SPINGARN Chairman of the Board RoY WILKINS, Administrator DR. CHANNING H. ToBIAS THURGOOD MARSHALL, Special Counsel Vice-Chairman of the Board DR. RoBERT C. WEAVER HENRY LEE MooN, Director, Public Relations Vice-Presidents GLOSTER B. CuRRENT, Director, Branches MARY McLEoD BETHUNE RABBI JuDAH CAHN EDWARD R . DuDLEY, Special Assistant HoN. HARRY E. DAVIS GRACE B . FENDERSON RoBERT L. CARTER, Assistant Special Counsel OscAR ·HAMMERSTEIN, II LuciLLE BLACK, Membership Secretary JoHN HAMMOND PROF. c. L . HARPER RuBY HuRLEY, Southeastern Regional Secretary DR. JoHN HAYNES HoLMES DoNALD JoNEs, Regional Secretary DR. WILLIAM LLOYD IMES DR. ALLAN F. JACKSON LESTER P. BAILEY HoN. IRA W. JAYNE ERIC JoHNSTON MILDRED BoND EUGENE M. MARTIN BERNARD BROWN DR. 0. CLAY MAXWELL JoHN W. FLAMER L. PEARL MITCHELL HoN. WAYNE MoRsE GERTRUDE GoRMAN T. G . NuTTER Field Secretaries A . PHILLIP RANDOLPH FRANKLIN H. WxLLIAr.JS, West Coast Regional IKE SMALLS Secretary-Counsel WILLARD S. TowNSEND BISHOP W. ]. WALLS HERBERT L. WRIGHT, Youth Secretary SAMUEL WILLIAMS CLARENCE MiTc~iLL, Director, Washington Bureau Treasurer HERBERT HILL, Labor Relations Assistant DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS Assistant Treasurer WALTER P . OFFUTT, ]R., Church Secretary HoN. THEODORE SPAULDING ]AMES W. IvY, Editor, The Crisis BOARD OF DIRECTORS Atlanta, Ga., Dr. Benjamin E. Mays; Baltimore, Md., Lillie M. Jackson, Carl Murphy; Baton Rouge, La., John G. Lewis, Jr.; Boston, Mass., Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers, Kivie Kaplan; Cambridge, Mass, Walter Carrington; Camden, N. ]., Dr. Ulysses Wiggins; Charlotte, N. C., Kelly M. Alexander; Chicago, Ill, Earl B. Dickerson; Cincinnati, Ohio, Hon. Theodore M. Berry; Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Nathan K . Christopher; Columbia, S . C., Rev. James Hinton; Dallas, Texas, A. Maceo Smith; Detroit, Mich., Dr. James J. McClen­ don. Walter Reuther; Flint, Mich., Dr. J . Leonidas Leach; Forth Worth, Texas, Dr. George D. Flemmings; Greenwich, Conn., Alfred Baker Lewis; Hyde Park, N. Y., Eleanor Roose­ velt; Jamaica, N . Y., Dr. Ralph J. Bunche; Kansas City, Mo., Carl R. Johnson; Los Angeles, Calif., Dr. H . Claude Hudson; Nashville, T enn., Z. Alexander Looby; N ew York, N. Y., Lillian A. Alexander, Dr. Algernon D. Black, Norman Cousins, Hon. Hubert T. Delany, Dr. Buell Gallagher, Lewis S. Gannett, Hon. Herbert H. Lehman, Amy E. Spin­ garn, Arthur B. Spingarn, Dr. Channing H . Tobias, Dr. Robert C. Weaver, Andrew D. Weinberger; Oak Bluffs, Mass., Dr. S. Ralph Harlow; Oklahoma City, Okla., Roscoe Dunjee; Philadelphia, Pa., Dr. Harry J. Greene, Earl G. Harrison, Hon. William H. Hastie, Hon. Theodore Spaulding; Pittsburgh, Pa., Daisy E. Lampkin, Jessie M. Vann; Richmond, Va., Dr. J. M. Tinsley; Savannah, Ga., Westley W. Law; Tuskegee, Ala., Dr. Joseph A. Berry; Washington, D . IC., Dr W. Montague Cobb.