Courses/Lectures
Each of the 34 courses available can be enrolled in individually, or in packages. Each course is an approximately 1-hour session that consists of the opportunity for the students to interact with the associated artifacts, and a discussion exercise tailored for your specific class in accordance with your teacher's curriculum/recommendations. If the Course List below doesn’t fit your needs, we can work together to develop the presentation you desire – from control of the discussion topics to selection of items to be presented.
The NAACP: First the Rope, Then the Ballot, But Always the Education
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in the first decade of the twentieth century, has since its inception played an integral role in the pursuit for equality. The organization when toe-to-toe with white supremacy in its anti-lynching efforts that helped bring about legislation aimed at curbing the terrorist act. During the Civil Rights Movement, the NAACP played a central role in the fight for the right to vote in the South. Throughout its existence, though, the NAACP has always been committed to education and its pursuit by people of color. In the collection shown here are more than two dozen Crisis Magazines ranging from Volume I in 1911 to the mid-1960s, along with membership cards from the 1930s and 1960s, pamphlets from the 1950s and 1940s and other items which help to tell the story of the NAACP's efforts.
Artifacts: Crisis magazines from 1911, 1912, 1913, 1918, 1919, 1920s-1960s, Membership ID cards from 1939, 1960, Membership Application from 1950, Pamphlets from 1940s and 1950s, other relevant items
NAACP Membership Card, 1939 - In 1939, the NAACP was one of the organizations at the forefront of the fight for legal equality. However, the organization would only be as strong as its membership, which not only provided financial support but through their numbers helped legitimize the organization's voice. We have above a completed membership card, paid for by member Bill Logan - at a time where incidents like the Scottsboro Boys case made the NAACP all the more relevant and its membership critical.
The Crisis Magazine, Volume I, No. 6 (April, 1911) - One of the most powerful weapons at the disposal of the NAACP from its beginning was its publishing arm, The Crisis Magazine, which eventually simply became know as Crisis. Within its pages, its editors - from W.E.B. DuBois to James W. Johnson to Walter White to Roy Wilkings - kept the pressure on the nation with its calls for equality and exposure of racial discrimination. Its pages instilled pride in the African-American community with its education and childrens volumes. Its pages were filled with advertisements for Black-owned businesses and places of higher education for people of color. Throughtout its history, suffice it to say, Crisis has been a vital arm of the NAACP. The copy shown here is one of the earliest, coming from the first volume the NAACP ever produced.