Mission
The NAACP's mission is to achieve social inclusion, equity, and political rights by advancing policies and practices that eliminate discrimination, expand civil and human rights, and improve the economic security, education, and well-being of all people of color and Black people.
Vision
The NAACP's vision is an inclusive community where all people can exercise their human and civil rights without discrimination.
Effingham County History
Effingham County Branch NAACP was chartered on October 14, 1968, under the leadership of Reverend Thomas Kent, President; Mr. Homer Lee Wallace, Vice President; Mrs. Ruth Griffin, Secretary; and Mr. Lynwood Griffin, Treasurer. Throughout the course of the organization there have been nine Presidents: Reverend Thomas Kent, Mr. Homer Wallace, Mr. Maurice Reed, Mrs. Juanita Woods, Mr. Leroy Lloyd, Mrs. Edies Cope, Reverend Delmons White, Mr. Henry Allen, and the current President, Mr. Thomas Lonon.
General History of the NAACP
In February 1909 future NAACP organizers issued "The Call," a statement protesting lawlessness against Negroes, and began forming the Committee on the Negro. By 1910 the organization had adopted the name National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and had begun publication of a monthly journal, The Crisis, under editor W. E. B. DuBois. Extensive organization in the North and Midwest and development of anti-lynching legislation characterized the NAACP's first seven years. Its organizers shifted focus to the South when they began to see the difficulty of accomplishing legislative goals without southern politicians' support. The leadership of Jacksonville, Florida, native James Weldon Johnson as executive secretary brought attention to the importance of serving the largest part of the African American population, which resided in the South.
“The following statement of objectives is found on the first page of the NAACP Constitution – the principal objectives of the Association shall be:
• To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens
• To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States
• To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes
• To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights
• To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination.
• To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP’s Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.
Effingham County Branch NAACP was chartered on October 14, 1968, under the leadership of Reverend Thomas Kent, President; Mr. Homer Lee Wallace, Vice President; Mrs. Ruth Griffin, Secretary; and Mr. Lynwood Griffin, Treasurer. Throughout the course of the organization there have been nine Presidents: Reverend Thomas Kent, Mr. Homer Wallace, Mr. Maurice Reed, Mrs. Juanita Woods, Mr. Leroy Lloyd, Mrs. Edies Cope, Reverend Delmons White, Mr. Henry Allen, and the current President, Mr. Thomas Lonon.