Founded in 1909 in New York City by a group of black and white citizens committed to social justice, the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s largest and strongest civil rights organization. NAACP founders include Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry
Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard and William English Walling. They answered a clarion “Call” to renew the struggle for civil and
political liberty in response to the unrelenting lynching of blacks that were occurring with impunity in 1909.
Today the NAACP is a network of more than 2,200 affiliates covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Japan and Germany. Headquartered in
Baltimore, Maryland, total membership exceeds 500,000. Today the California State NAACP boasts 72 branches and youth units mobilized across the
state to help ensure racial justice and equality.