[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 122, 110th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF [NOTE: Mar. 5,
2008 -  [H.Con.Res.289]   COLORED PEOPLE--99TH ANNIVERSARY RECOGNITION

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
answered `The Call' for a national conference to discuss the civil
and political rights of African-Americans;

Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
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 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 minority Americans;

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 1954
decision in Brown v. Board of Education;


[[Page 5131]]
122 STAT. 5131


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, and Coretta Scott King Voting
Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, and the Fair
Housing Act, laws which ensured Government protection for legal
victories achieved;

Whereas in 2005, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help survivors in
Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Alabama to rebuild their
lives; and

Whereas in 2007, the NAACP was prominent in lobbying for the passage of
H. Res. 826, ``The Noose Intimidation Bill'', which expresses ``that
the hanging of nooses is a horrible act when used for the purpose of
intimidation and which under certain circumstances can be a criminal
act that should be thoroughly investigated by Federal law
enforcement authorities and that any criminal violations should be
vigorously prosecuted'': Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That the Congress--
(1) recognizes the 99th 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.

Agreed to March 5, 2008