NAACP Mission Statement
The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority groups and citizens; achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States; remove all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic process; seek to enact and enforce federal, state and local laws securing civil rights; inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and seek its elimination; educate persons as to their constitutional rights and take all lawful action in the furtherance of these principles.
NAACP Vision Statement
The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination.
Why Join the NAACP?
Membership is Power! Your membership is invaluable to the continued existence of NAACP advocacy initiatives, outreach programs and litigation efforts. As our membership grows, so does our opportunity to make a difference. The NAACP has been leading the effort for social justice for nearly 100 years. Anyone who supports the mission of the NAACP, irrespective of race, religion, political affiliation and ideology, can become a member of the Association. The Association is comprised of thousands of Units (Branches) and tens of thousands of members and volunteers nationwide. Unyielding in our purpose, the NAACP ensures the political, education, social and economic equality of minority group citizens through democratic processes.
DID YOU KNOW THAT THE NAACP HELPED LEAD THE FIGHT SO THAT YOU CAN…
- Vote
- Live where you want to live
- Attend the school and college of your choice
- Pursue jobs and careers that were off limits to Blacks and other minorities
And today the NAACP continues to fight for many things including…
- Equal economic opportunities
- Educational opportunities
- The prevention of racial discrimination on the job.
- The elimination of Hate Crimes and police brutality
The NAACP is at work all across the nation. But we work especially hard in the Lone Star State.
In Texas, the NAACP has…
- Fought to open doors for the first African American and female Texas Ranger
- Led efforts to pass Hate Crime laws, criminal justice reform, and employment discrimination laws at the state level
- Fought for your rights in Texas Congressional Redistricting
- Fought for those wrongfully accused of drug trafficking in Hearne and Tulia
- Ensured African American representation in government and private business
- In El Paso, we have succeeded in opening doors for employment in various aspects of our community and county
- In El Paso, as well as throughout the state, we continue to fight for the prosecution of bad police officers, and for a fair and equitable school system
Copyright 2007 El Paso Branch NAACP, All Rights Reserved
America’s history is an inspirational story of pioneers who gambled their lives and those of their families in search of liberty and freedom. But that remarkable history bears the taint of a history that challenged these lofty goals with years of denying freedom and liberties to many of its people. Spanning centuries, America has persecuted racial and ethnic groups, women, children and those of sexual orientation. Amidst these abuses, those heaped upon the African immigrant have been the most long lasting and cruelest. From its inception, slavery in America established and institutionalized the denial of civil and human rights to people brought forcibly onto American soil.
In 1909, a group of sixty citizens, Black & White banned together to establish an organization that remains the single organization linked to civil rights advocacy throughout the world; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Known internationally as the NAACP, this organization quickly established branches throughout the United States of America.
The first branch of the NAACP in Texas was established in El Paso in 1915. The founding of this unit cannot be told without the relating of the life of its most noted chartering member, Dr. L.A. Nixon Lawrence Aaron Nixon, black physician and voting-rights advocate, was born in Marshall, Texas, on February 7 or 9, 1884, the son of Charles and Jennie (Engledow) Nixon. He attended Wiley College in Marshall and received his M.D. degree in 1906 from Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee.
He began practice in Cameron, Milam County, Texas. In 1909 there were ten lynchings of black men in Texas, one of which occurred in Cameron on November 4 and influenced Nixon to become a civil-rights advocate. In December he moved to El Paso. There he established a successful medical practice, helped organize a Methodist congregation, voted in Democratic primary and general elections, and in 1910 helped to organize the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In 1924 NAACP Field Secretary William Pickens visited El Paso and announced that the NAACP intended to test the constitutionality of the Terrell Law. The Terrell Law was passed in 1923 by the Texas Legislature which stated “In no event shall a Negro be eligible to participate in a Democratic primary election…in…Texas.” On July 26, 1924, with the sponsorship of the NAACP, Nixon took his poll-tax receipt to a Democratic primary polling place and was refused a ballot. Thus began a twenty-year struggle in which Nixon and his El Paso attorney, Fred C. Knollenberg, twice carried their case to the United States Supreme Court.
In 1927, in Nixon v. Herndon, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the decision that Nixon had been unlawfully deprived of his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1932 Justice Benjamin Cardozo ruled for Nixon again, in Nixon v. Condon, holding that political parties are "custodians of official power . . . the instruments by which government becomes a living thing." The Nixon cases were major steps toward voting rights, but there were legal loopholes under which the state and the Democratic partyqv continued to deny primary votes to blacks. It was not until the decision in Smith v. Allwright ended the white primaryqv that the way was cleared, and on July 22, 1944, Dr. and Mrs. Nixon walked into the same El Paso voting place and voted in a Democratic primary. Nixon was married first to Esther Calvin, who died in 1918, then in 1935 to Drusilla Tandy Porter, who survived him. He had four children. Nixon died on March 6, 1966, as a result of an automobile accident.
Sources:
Conrey Bryson, Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon and the White Primary (El Paso, Texas Western Press, l974); Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon Papers, Lyndon B. Johnson Library, University of Texas, Austin.
EL PASO BRANCH NAACP ~ since 1915
1915 - 1924
The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
established its first Texas chapter in
El Paso in 1915.¹
Mr. William Henderson – President
(Charter Members)
Professor Bundy - Professor Coleman - Joe Donnell - Abram Ellis
George Gradington - Dr. Gravley - Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon
A. D. Parker - J. W. Prothro - Mrs. E. Prothro
Mr. Shanklin - L. W. Washington - Mary Webb
Pate Webb - Rev. Leroy White - Jasper Williams
January 1, 1923 - December 31, 1930
Mr. L.W. Washington, President
January 15, 1915 - December 1922
Mr. William Henderson, President
January 1, 1972 - December 31, 1973
Rev. Jessie L. Massey, President
January 1, 1974 - December 31, 1977
Mr. H.L. Washington, President
January 1, 1978 - December 31, 1981
Rev. Johnnie Washington, President
January 1, 1982 - December 31, 1988
Mr. Raymond Hart, President
January 1, 1986 - December 31, 2004
Rev. Johnnie Washington, President
January 1, 2005 - December 31, 2007
Rev. Billy Williams, President
January 1, 2008 - Present
Harold E. Howell, President
PRESIDENTS OF THE
EL PASO BRANCH
1915 - Present
White Primary: Following Reconstruction, white political leaders in Texas and other southern states sought to take the vote from black voters. As a disenfranchisement device, the poll tax discouraged poor whites as well as blacks from voting, while enabling blacks who paid the tax to vote. Party rules or state laws that barred blacks from the Democratic primary, however, could virtually disenfranchise all blacks (and only blacks) by keeping them out of the election that generally determined who would hold office in a Democratic-dominated state.²
1924
NAACP Field Secretary William Pickens visited El Paso (reference)
1925 – 1934
The Texas State Conference of Branches was formed in 1937.
1938
Thurgood Marshall visits Texas
1965 – 1974
NIXON, LAWRENCE AARON (1884-1966)³
1975 - 1984
1985 - 1994
1995 - 2004
2005 - Present
BIBLIOGRAPHY: [1] Handbook of Texas Online: NAACP http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/NN/ven1.html
[2] Handbook of Texas Online: White Primary http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/WW/wdw1.html
[3] Handbook of Texas Online: Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon (1884 – 1966) http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/NN/fni10.html
Your assistance is needed in researching the History of the NAACP El Paso Branch for the past 91 or 94 years. We are seeking written or oral documentations of our history. The deadline is May 1, 2009. El Paso Branch was founded in 1915 and Charter in April 1918, Mr. William Henderson was the first President. What we are looking for is Who, What, When, Where and time period - 1930 Civil Case is an example; names of Past Presidents of the branch and other contributors as far back as you can ascertain. Please send any photos as well. Please send to elpnaacp@yahoo.com or you may send a hard copy to the branch address. All photos will be returned.
Thank you
Harold Howell
474-1247
