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History of the NAACP

Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Established by a diverse group of activists—both Black and white—the NAACP was created in response to the ongoing violence and injustices faced by African Americans in the early 20th century.

The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. Appalled at the violence that was committed against blacks, a group of white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard, both the descendants of abolitionists, William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

Other early members included Joel and Arthur Spingarn, Josephine Ruffin, Mary Talbert, Inez Milholland, Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Sophonisba Breckinridge, John Haynes Holmes, Mary McLeod Bethune, George Henry White, Charles Edward Russell, John Dewey, William Dean Howells, Lillian Wald, Charles Darrow, Lincoln Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker, and Fanny Garrison Villard.

Echoing the focus of Du Bois’ Niagara Movement begun in 1905, the NAACP’s stated goal was to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery, the equal protection of the law, and universal adult male suffrage, respectively.

The NAACP’s principal objective is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice. The NAACP seeks to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic processes.

The NAACP established its national office in New York City in 1910 and named a board of directors as well as a president,

Moorfield Storey, a white constitutional lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association. The only African American among the organization’s executives, W.E.B. Du Bois was made director of publications and research. In 1910,

The Crisis, the official journal of the NAACP was established.

Throughout its history, the NAACP has led landmark efforts in the fight for civil rights. From legal victories such as Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which ended legal school segregation, to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, the NAACP has been instrumental in shaping a more just America. With over a century of progress behind it, the NAACP remains steadfast in its commitment to achieving equality and justice for future generations.
The Rockingham County Branch of the NAACP proudly carries forward this legacy at the local level. Through advocacy, education, voter engagement, and community outreach, the branch continues to uphold the NAACP’s vision of a society where every individual is treated with dignity and fairness.

History of The ROCKINGHAM COUNTY NAACP

The Reidsville NAACP Branch was organized on October 15, 1947, and formally chartered on November 10, 1947, at St. Paul Methodist Church.

From its earliest days, the Reidsville branch became the most active civil rights organization in Rockingham County during the early struggle for racial justice in the region.

James A. Griggs – President (1958–1972)

James Arthur Griggs was elected president of the Reidsville NAACP Branch in 1958. He served as president for 14 years, from 1958 until October 1972, leading the branch through a crucial period of civil rights activism during segregation. Under his leadership, the chapter was deeply involved in organizing and advocating for racial justice at a time when segregation was still rigidly enforced in Reidsville and the surrounding area. During this era, local NAACP leaders like Griggs were the backbone of grassroots civil rights work, especially in smaller Southern cities where legal and social pressure for change was fierce.

Willie R. Boyd – President (1972–1982)

Willie R. Boyd succeeded James A. Griggs in 1972 as the third president of the Reidsville NAACP Branch. He served in that role for approximately 10 years (1972–1982), continuing and expanding the branch’s work after the major civil rights legislative victories of the 1960s. Boyd was closely involved in local civil rights efforts and also played a prominent role as a spokesperson in the important national civil rights case Griggs v. Duke Power Co., which originated from NAACP supported employees in Reidsville challenging discriminatory employment practices and reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Reidsville NAACP Branch played a central role in civil rights in Rockingham County for decades, spearheading activism and legal challenges when other nearby communities did not have active branches. Leaders like Griggs and Boyd helped sustain grassroots advocacy through both direct community organization and by supporting systemic legal challenges against institutional racism.

Their work contributed not only to local civil rights progress in education, employment, and racial relations, but also to national legal precedents that shaped civil rights enforcement across the country.

Griggs v. Duke Power

Griggs v. Duke Power Company was a landmark employment discrimination case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971. It concerned the legality, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, of high school diplomas and intelligence test scores as prerequisites for employment. The court ruled unanimously against the intelligence testing practices of the Duke Power Company. Chief Justice Warren Burger delivered the Court’s opinion that employers can use intelligence tests only if “they are demonstrably a reasonable measure of job performance.”

Background

The case originated in a lawsuit filed by Willie Griggs and twelve other African-American employees of Duke Power’s Dan River hydroelectric plant in Draper, North Carolina. Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Duke Power discriminated against African-Americans in hiring and promotion, restricting them to the company’s Labor department. In 1955, Duke Power instituted a high school diploma requirement for initial hiring in any department except Labor. (The other departments of Duke Power included Maintenance, Operations, and Laboratory.) In 1965, when the Civil Rights Act went into effect, this requirement was expanded to block transfers from Labor to other departments by employees who had not graduated high school.

Later that year, Duke Power began allowing non-high-school graduates to transfer from Labor to other departments if they could register sufficient scores on the Wonderlic Test, which rates general mental ability, and the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test, which is intended to predict job performance in mechanical fields. The scores that Duke Power required on each test were national median scores for high school graduates. The plaintiffs, Duke Power, and all courts that heard the case agreed that whites fared better than African-Americans on these intelligence tests. The tests thus put African-Americans at a disadvantage to whites in Duke Power’s hiring and advancement, and this disadvantage prompted the plaintiffs’ suit.

The Legal Challenge

The plaintiffs’ argument was that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which forbade race-based discrimination in employment, prohibited employer-administered tests that could have an exclusionary effect African-Americans. A federal district court ruled in favor of Duke Power on the ground that Duke Power’s policy of overt racial discrimination to wit, racial segregation had ceased. After the case moved beyond the district level, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the intelligence tests administered by Duke Power did not reflect any discriminatory intent and thus were not unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court finally heard the case in late 1970, and Justice Burger’s opinion took several months to draft. The court overturned the rulings of the lower courts, deciding in favor of Griggs. Intelligence test scores and diplomas as requirements for employment, the court ruled, are not in themselves illegal under Title VII. Nevertheless, when diploma and test requirements (a) limit ethnic minority hiring and (b) do not pertain to job skills or performance, these requirements are illegal.

Decision

In 1971, in a unanimous groundbreaking decision, the Court ruled against Duke Power. It held that employment practices that are neutral in wording but discriminatory in effect violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act if they are not job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Why It Was Important

The ruling established the legal principle of “disparate impact.” This meant:

• Employers could not hide behind neutral policies that produced unequal outcomes.

• The burden shifted to employers to prove that job requirements were genuinely related to the work.

• Civil rights enforcement expanded beyond intentional discrimination to include systemic and structural inequities.

The Court made clear that the law addresses not only overt discrimination, but also practices that perpetuate inequality.

The NAACP Connection

The case reflects the critical role of local NAACP activism in advancing national civil rights protections. Grassroots organizing in Reidsville helped elevate the issue from a local workplace dispute to a national legal precedent.

The NAACP’s involvement demonstrates how community-level advocacy, when combined with strategic litigation, can transform public policy across the country.

Lasting Legacy

More than five decades later, Griggs v. Duke Power Co. remains foundational in employment discrimination law. It continues to shape how courts evaluate hiring practices, testing standards, and workplace policies.

What began as a challenge in a small North Carolina community became a decision that strengthened civil rights protections nationwide — proving once again that local courage can lead to national change.

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ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NC. BRANCH NAACP (2026)

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