NAACP vs Civil Rights Movement

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When one looks at social movements in United States history there are many that come to mind. Two of the most prominent groups that come to mind first are the NAACP and the Civil Rights movement, specifically Dr. King. Like most groups they had their successes and their failures. By looking at both one can see where they had similar goals and other times where they held opposing beliefs.

The first of the groups that we will examine is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or more commonly known as NAACP. Like their name suggests is their goal is to ensure the rights of all colored people whether it entails education, social, or economic equality. The NAACP’s outlook on the situation is that they believe that the system is broken, or that the system in place is not to the benefit to people of color. But, they believe that it is not beyond repair, And, that the best way to achieve a better system is to fix the system from within by achieving legal decisions that level the playing field for all people. The way that this group attempts to achieve this is by using their expertise in the legal field to challenge certain legal cases they believe to present a perfect opportunity to illuminate an injustice. The NAACP has had many successes in their past and none was bigger than the decision of the Supreme Court on Brown v. Board of Education. This decision struck Plessy v. Ferguson that established separate but equal for facilities provided by the states. They chose cases that would highlight the absurdity and financial unattainability to create facilities like schools for both white and African-American people. A short coming of the group though could be that they are too focused on picking cases that they cou...

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...st hurdle to equality among all people in the United States of America.
Is it really possible to pick a winner between the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the Civil Rights movement? While they both had their shining moments like Brown v. Board of Education or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They also had their failures like being too selective or in inability to win over all citizens to their side. But, the Civil Rights movement in the opinion of many is the more successful one. It was a movement of the people. What is meant by that is, the leaders worked with the people and not within the legal system like that of the NAACP. And, if one is to look at the two big victories of the group’s one can argue that the Civil Rights Act was more successful than the decision of Brown v. Board of Education looking at purely integration statistics.

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