Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), originally known as the National Negro Committee, was
founded in New York City on February 12, 1909, the centennial of Abraham
Lincoln's birth, by a multiracial group of activists who met in a national
conference to discuss the civil and political rights of
African-Americans;
Whereas the NAACP was founded by a distinguished group of
leaders in the struggle for civil and political liberty, including Ida
Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald
Garrison Villard, and William English Walling;
Whereas the NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights
organization in the United States;
Whereas the NAACP National Headquarters is located in
Baltimore, Maryland;
Whereas the mission of the NAACP is to ensure the
political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons
and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination;
Whereas the NAACP is committed to achieving its goals
through nonviolence;
Whereas the NAACP advances its mission through reliance
upon the press, the petition, the ballot, and the courts, and has been
persistent in the use of legal and moral persuasion, even in the face of overt
and violent racial hostility;
Whereas the NAACP has used political pressure, marches,
demonstrations, and effective lobbying to serve as the voice, as well as the
shield, for minorities in the United States;
Whereas after years of fighting segregation in public
schools, the NAACP, under the leadership of Special Counsel Thurgood Marshall,
won one of its greatest legal victories in the Supreme Court's decision in
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954);
Whereas in 1955, NAACP member Rosa Parks was arrested and
fined for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery,
Alabama, an act of courage that would serve as the catalyst for the largest
grassroots civil rights movement in the history of the United States;
Whereas the NAACP was prominent in lobbying for the
passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, the Voting Rights Act
of 1965, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, César E. Chávez,
Barbara C. Jordan, William C. Velásquez, and Dr. Hector P. Garcia Voting Rights
Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, and the Fair Housing Act, laws
that ensured Government protection for legal victories achieved;
Whereas in 2005, the NAACP launched the Disaster Relief
Fund to help hurricane survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and
Alabama to rebuild their lives;
Whereas in the 110th Congress, the NAACP was prominent in
lobbying for the passage of H. Res. 826, whose resolved clause expresses that
the hanging of nooses is a horrible act when used for the purpose of
intimidation and which under certain circumstances can be criminal, this
conduct should be investigated thoroughly by Federal authorities, and any
criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted;
Whereas in 2008, the NAACP vigorously supported the
passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007, a law that
puts additional Federal resources into solving the heinous crimes that occurred
in the early days of the civil rights struggle that remain unsolved and
bringing those who perpetrated such crimes to justice;
Whereas the NAACP has helped usher in the new millennium
by charting a bold course, beginning with the appointment of the organization’s
youngest President and Chief Executive Officer, Benjamin Todd Jealous, and its
youngest female Board Chair, Roslyn M. Brock;
Whereas under their leadership, the NAACP has outlined a
strategic plan to confront 21st century challenges in the critical areas of
health, education, housing, criminal justice, and environment;
Whereas, on July 16, 2009, the NAACP celebrated its
centennial anniversary in New York City, highlighting an extraordinary century
of Bold Dreams, Big Victories with a historic address from the first
African-American President of the United States, Barack Obama;
Whereas as an advocate for sentencing reform, the NAACP
applauded the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–220;
124 Stat. 2372), a landmark piece of legislation that reduces the quantity of
crack cocaine that triggers a mandatory minimum sentence for a Federal
conviction of crack cocaine distribution from 100 times that of people
convicted of distributing the drug in powdered form to 18 times that sentence;
and
Whereas in 2011, the NAACP led the charge to defend the
constitutional right to vote and to protect that right for all citizens of the
United States, whether they be seniors, young voters, the poor, or from
minority communities: Now, therefore, be it
That Congress—
(1)recognizes the 103rd anniversary of the
historic founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People; and
(2)honors and praises
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the occasion
of its anniversary for its work to ensure the political, educational, social,
and economic equality of all persons.