09 LC 94
0248
House
Resolution 196
By:
Representative Beasley-Teague of the
65th
A
RESOLUTION
Commending
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on its 100th
anniversary; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was
founded on February 12, 1909, and was originally known as the National Negro
Committee; and
WHEREAS,
the founders of the NAACP were a group of multiracial activists who answered the
call for a national conference to discuss the civil and political rights of
African Americans; and
WHEREAS,
the creators of the NAACP included distinguished leaders in the struggle for
civil and political liberty for all people such as Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B.
DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and
William English Walling; and
WHEREAS,
the mission of the NAACP is to ensure equal political, educational, social, and
economic rights for all individuals and eliminate racial hatred and
discrimination; and
WHEREAS,
the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization,
committed to achieving goals through nonviolence; and
WHEREAS,
the NAACP advances its mission through reliance upon the press, the petition,
the ballot, and the courts, not allowing overt and violent racial hostility to
deter its calling; and
WHEREAS,
political pressure, marches, demonstrations, and effective lobbying have been
used by the NAACP to ensure that the voices of the minorities of America are
heard; and
WHEREAS, under the
leadership of Special Counsel Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP won the fight to
desegregate public schools in its greatest legal victory with the Supreme
Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education; and
WHEREAS,
in 1955, NAACP member Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for courageously
refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, which
served as the catalyst for the largest grassroots civil rights movement in the
history of the United States; and
WHEREAS,
the NAACP has been prominent in lobbying for ground-breaking equal protection
legislation, including the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King
Voting Rights Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, and the Fair Housing
Act; and
WHEREAS,
in 2005 the NAACP launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help the hurricane
survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Alabama rebuild their
lives; and
WHEREAS,
on February 12, 2009, the NAACP will mark its 100th anniversary, launching a
full year of celebrations and observances at its headquarters in Baltimore,
Maryland, and 1,700 local offices throughout the nation; and
WHEREAS,
it is fitting that this body express its appreciation for the great advancements
made by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People over the
past 100 years.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that members of this
body recognize the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
for the organization's significant role in leading social change in America and
extend congratulations on the remarkable occasion of its 100th
anniversary.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.