What Does NAACP Stand For?

What does NAACP stand for, word by word?

The small words "for the" and "of" are skipped, which is common in group names. "Advancement" here means progress toward equal rights and opportunity. The name reflects the language of the time it was formed. Today, news stories and the group itself almost always use the short form.

How the NAACP began

The association was formed in 1909 in New York by a mixed group of Black and white activists, writers and reformers who were alarmed by racial violence and the spread of segregation laws. Among its early leaders was the scholar W. E. B. Du Bois, who edited the group's magazine, The Crisis.

In its first decades the group pushed for laws against lynching, published reports on violence, and challenged unfair laws in court. Its lawyers built many of the cases that led to the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which held that separate public schools for Black and white children were unconstitutional. The legal arm later became an independent organization with its own board, often called LDF.

What the NAACP does today

The group describes its mission as working for the political, educational, social and economic equality of all people and against race based discrimination. In practice, its work includes:

• Voter registration drives and education on how to vote.
• Advocacy on education, health care, jobs and criminal justice.
• Local branches that hold meetings, take complaints and run community programs.
• Youth councils and college chapters for younger members.
• Yearly events such as a national convention and an awards show honoring work in film, music, TV and books.

Supporters see it as a key voice for civil rights. Critics sometimes disagree with its positions on specific laws or policies. Like many advocacy groups, it takes public stances, and people read those stances in different ways.

How to say and write NAACP

Most people say "N double A C P." Saying each of the five letters, "N A A C P," is also correct. Nobody pronounces it as a single word, so it is an initialism.

• Use all capitals and leave out periods: NAACP.
• Use "the" in most sentences: "the NAACP said in a statement."
• Use "an" before it, since N starts with a vowel sound ("en"): "an NAACP branch."

Why do some letter sets get spoken as words while NAACP does not? The acronym vs abbreviation page explains.

Groups people confuse with the NAACP

Several organizations have similar letters or similar goals:

• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF): began as the NAACP's legal arm and has been a separate group since the 1950s.
• ACLU: the American Civil Liberties Union, which works on civil liberties for everyone in many areas, not on one community alone.
• HBCU: a historically Black college or university, a type of school, not an organization.

Many other organizations with letter names are gathered under government and military acronyms.