Towards A New Century

During the 1990s the NAACP pursued economic empowerment, youth programs, and voter registration as top priorities. To "stem the tide of black land loss," the NAACP supported black farmers in a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging racial discrimination. The NAACP began a campaign to protest the flying of the Confederate flag in South Carolina. The NAACP also addressed the rise in hate crimes, evinced by a series of black church fires that swept the Southeast.

As it celebrates its centennial, the NAACP is reflecting on the progress made and the work still to be done. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the NAACP continues to seek new ways of defining its mission. The organization is endeavoring to expand membership and build coalitions by reaffirming its origins as a racially and ethnically diverse human rights organization. While supporting enforcement of existing civil rights laws, the NAACP is devising new strategies to redress racial disparities in education, employment, housing, health care, the criminal justice system, civic engagement, and voting rights. As long as racial hatred and discrimination exist, the NAACP will wage a relentless campaign “to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons.”

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