The following are short descriptions of the groups and organizations which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
Organized in 1936 in Dallas, Texas, The Democratic Progressive Voters League is one of the oldest political organizations for African Americans in the state. It developed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the goal of ensuring the rights of African Americans around the state to … Read MoreDemocratic Progressive Voters League (1936- )
The first Afro-American League (AAL) was established in 1887 before changing its name, two years later, to the National Afro-American League (NAAL). The focus of the league was to obtain full citizenship and equality for African-Americans. Timothy Thomas Fortune, editor of the New York Age … Read MoreNational Afro American League (1887–1893)
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), founded in 1937, was the first attorneys organization that welcomed any member regardless of belief or race making it the first integrated bar association. The Guild included a number of African American attorneys but also white New Deal liberals and … Read MoreNational Lawyers Guild (1937- )
Freedomways was the central theoretical journal of the 20th century black arts and intellectual movement in the United States. From its opening issue in the spring of 1961, it invited historians, sociologists, economists, artists, workers, and students to write on African American history, heritage, and … Read MoreFreedomways (1961-1985)
Founded in Syracuse, New York in 1864, the National Equal Rights League (NERL) promoted full and immediate citizenship for African Americans. Created during the Civil War, the League based its call for full citizenship as compensation for military service in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. … Read MoreNational Equal Rights League (1864-1921)
The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was established on December 5, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama as a grassroots movement to fight for civil rights for African Americans and specifically for the desegregation of the buses in Alabama’s capitol city. The MIA was the first of its … Read MoreMontgomery Improvement Association (1955–1969)
The Colored Refugee Relief Board (originally called the Committee of Fifteen and then the Committee of Twenty-Five), was formed in St. Louis, Missouri in response to the Exoduster migration in March 1879. As thousands of destitute migrants arrived in St. Louis on their way to … Read MoreColored Refugee Relief Board (1879-1880)
The National Bar Association (NBA) was founded on August 1, 1925, in Des Moines, Iowa by 120 lawyers to give voice to black attorneys who were excluded from every nationally organized bar association at that time. When the association was formed, there were slightly less … Read MoreNational Bar Association (1925- )
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) was founded on December 5, 1935, with the support of the leaders of 28 of the most notable black women’s organizations. The founder and president until 1949, Mary McLeod Bethune, envisioned a unified force of black women’s groups … Read MoreNational Council of Negro Women (1935- )
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was created on January 10-11, 1957, when sixty black ministers and civil rights leaders met in Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to replicate the successful strategy and tactics of the recently concluded Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. Rev. Martin Luther … Read MoreSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (1957- )
