Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W. E. B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and William English Walling may not be familiar names for many Americans. But the more than 500,000 members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People know them as the founders of their organization, the oldest and largest civil rights group in the country.    

Multiracial from its inception in 1909, the NAACP today continues to actively challenge each new generation to bring the promises of freedom, justice, and equality to all Americans.

Nowhere has the NAACP been more visible, strong, or successful than in Detroit. Chartered in 1912, the Detroit Branch has throughout its history won landmark legal cases in Michigan and, via the U. S. Supreme Court, across the country.

Legal action by the Branch successfully challenged housing discrimination and reaffirmed the right to protect one’s home and inhabitants from violence (1925), ended racially restrictive covenants (1948), stopped segregation in Detroit public housing (1954), and banned discrimination in local residential property sales (1966). In the 1990s, the Branch organized protests against police brutality that led to federal investigations.

The Branch, 50,000 strong, encourages citizens to patronize businesses that value minority purchasing, job creation, the expansion of black-owned businesses, and publishes its Retail Shop and Service Guide each holiday season. 

The Detroit Branch also hosts the annual Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner, the largest sit-down dinner of its kind. Funds raised from the 10,000 guests support civil rights and social justice advocacy programs and youth and economic empowerment initiatives.