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Dayton OH Branch NAACP 1528 Dr. Martin Luther King Way Dayton OH 45402 (937) 222-2172 webmaster@naacpdayton.org |
Dayton Youth Council
MySpaceDayton Youth Council Receives Congressional Record- May 16, 20076th Annual Back to School Fun DayBook Bag Given Away - 2006 (Photos)History of the Youth CouncilExecutive Secretary Walter White created a formal youth structure within The National Association for the Advance of Colored People (NAACP) in 1936. Mr. White felt that the youth program offered, "an opportunity for the NAACP to get into its membership large numbers of young people who might not otherwise join." Impressed by the City-Wide Young People's Forum in Baltimore, Maryland, and acting upon a petition by NAACP youth members for a more vital part in the Organization, he created the Division to lead the nation's youths in a "militant and aggressive campaign against bigotry ad inequality." He chose Juanita Jackson, daughter of Baltimore civil rights matriarch, Lillie Carroll Jackson, and president of the Young People's Forum, to head the national movement. With the approval of a plan of reorganization of the youth work program by the NAACP National Board of Directors in March 1936, Miss. Jackson set out to accomplish her task. The new plan called for the scraping of what was then known as the junior branch with the old age limits of 14-21 years old for youth members. This was replaced by junior youth councils, ages 12-15, youth councils ages 16-23, including college chapters, and the creation of a youth program similar to that of the adults. Expanding on this new thrust, Gloster B. Current, president of the Detroit youth unit, strongly endorsed development of a multiple council system for that city. When Miss. Jackson, visited Detroit in October 1936, he reported in The Crisis, "she found these groups with no organizational tie-up." Realizing the need for coordination, she organized the Central Youth Council Committee. This committee's work resulted in the creation of the six-chartered youth councils within three years. As a result of this reorganization, Mr. Current reported the Detroit multiple youth council system was much improved and strengthened. The example was thus laid for other cities to follow. Demonstrating appreciation for her contributions in developing the youth program, the NAACP established the Juanita Jackson Mitchell Youth Leadership Award in 1972. The first winner in 1974 was Belinda Marie Smith of New Roads, LA Youth Council. At the historical first youth meeting in Baltimore, June 29- July 4, 1936, 217 youth delegates held a national conference simultaneously with adult members. Delegates outlined a national program that addressed four major areas: equal educational opportunities, equal economic opportunities, civil liberties, and physical security against lynching. This spirit of solidarity among Black youths was sparked by years of racial discrimination, segregation, and mob violence. "Flesh and blood and the breath of life must be added to the skeleton we have constructed," declared youth member, Edward A. Lawrence in an article in the September 1936 edition of The Crisis. Armed with determination, youth delegates resolved that their first priority would be aimed at the brutal crime of lynching. Statistics compiled by the Tuskegee Institute report that from 1930-1936 more than 100 Blacks had been lynched in various parts of the country. Alarmed at the high incidence of these deaths, youth members staged their first National Youth Demonstration Against Lynching on the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, February 12, 1927. This was also the first national demonstration that the youth of the NAACP gave as an organized group. Youth councils in: Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, New York, Indianapolis, Richmond, Nashville, Birmingham, and Atlanta as well as other smaller communities, participated in the demonstration. On the college campuses of Lincoln, Fisk, Morgan, Pennsylvania State, Howard, Bates, Houston, Wilberforce, Morehouse, Dillard, Spelman, West Virginia State, Shaw, Allen, Morris Brown, Benedict, and Bishop, student demonstrations were held demanding that "the youth of America be emancipated from lynching" urging the passage of the federal anti-lynching bill sponsored by the Association. Demonstrators wore black armbands as a dramatic sign of mourning for the victims. Throughout parts of the country that day, youth members held mass meetings, gave soapbox speeches, and led student rallies and parades to demand the end of lynching and mob violence. Speakers included Mr. White, NAACP Special Counsel, Charles H. Houston, NAACP Assistant Special Counsel, Thurgood Marshall, and New York Senator, Robert F. Wagner. Mr. Wagner was co-author of the Wagner-Van Nuys anti-lynching bill. Congress never approved the bill. However, the NAACP continued its crusade against lynching, thus awakening America's conscience against the crime. That year, a national youth conference was held in Washington on April 10-12 to study the functioning of Congress for youth delegates who thought it necessary to have some input in the legislative process. That event also signaled a broadening of youth programs. Also, they were cited for "their pioneer role in upholding the basic ideals of American democracy, in the face of continuing harassment and constant threat to bodily injury." Under the leadership of Herbert L. Wright, the youth program reached an all-time high in civil rights actions in 1961. In March of 1961, youth and college units launched sit-ins in Jacksonville, MS, integrating two public places and demanded jobs in all-white establishments. The NAACP records that nearly 200,000 young people were registered in 1962. The youth of the NAACP more recently expanded their horizons and ventured into the international affairs arena. The Division host delegations affiliated with the United States Youth Council. Students from participating countries visit the United States for the purpose of learning about democracy and how the system functions. Some youth delegates come through the International Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth, Costa Rican Group Unity, and National Liberation parties. The youth of the NAACP represented the U.S. Youth Council in special task forces to Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world. Judge Constance B. Motley, Arthur Johnson, vice-president of Wayne University, Atlanta Senator, Julian Bond, Hank Aaron, baseball homeruns record-holder, Andrew Young, Mayor of Atlanta, and former United Nations Ambassador, Maynard Jackson, former mayor of Atlanta, Patricia Harris, former Secretary of Housing.
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