If you ask most people who was the founder of the NAACP, they’ll probably give you one name: W.E.B. Du Bois. They aren't exactly wrong, but they're definitely not telling the whole story. History is rarely that tidy. It wasn’t just one guy sitting in a room with a brilliant idea; it was a chaotic, urgent, and deeply interracial response to a literal massacre.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) didn't start in a vacuum. It started because Springfield, Illinois—the home of Abraham Lincoln—went up in flames in 1908. Race riots broke out, people were lynched, and the irony of it happening in Lincoln's backyard was too much for the activists of the era to ignore. It was a "get in the room or watch the country burn" kind of moment.
The "Call" That Changed Everything
In early 1909, a document known as "The Call" was issued. It was a plea for a national conference on the "Negro Question," but that makes it sound way more polite than it actually was. The country was in a crisis. Mary White Ovington, a white socialist and journalist, was one of the primary engines behind this. She teamed up with William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moskowitz.
Wait—white founders? Yeah. That’s the part that catches people off guard today. The NAACP was founded by a diverse group of sixty people. Out of that original group, only seven were Black. This included the powerhouse duo of W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. If you want to talk about who was the founder of the NAACP, you have to talk about this uncomfortable, necessary alliance between white liberals and Black radicals.
W.E.B. Du Bois: The Intellectual Engine
While he wasn't the sole founder, Du Bois was the only Black member of the original executive board. He was basically the MVP from day one. He founded The Crisis magazine in 1910, which became the mouthpiece for the movement. Honestly, without The Crisis, the NAACP might have just been another forgotten committee. Du Bois used it to highlight the horrors of lynching and the hypocrisy of American democracy.
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He was a Harvard-trained sociologist who didn't have time for the "slow and steady" approach favored by folks like Booker T. Washington. Du Bois wanted civil rights now. He wanted the "Talented Tenth" of the Black community to lead the way into full social and political equality. His influence was so massive that his name became synonymous with the organization, even though he was part of a much larger collective.
The Forgotten Powerhouses: Ida B. Wells and Mary White Ovington
Mary White Ovington is someone you should know. She was a descendant of abolitionists and spent her life working in New York City tenements. She didn't just write checks; she did the grit-and-grime work of organizing. Then you have Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
Ida was a force. She was an investigative journalist who literally put her life on the line to document lynchings in the South. Interestingly, her relationship with the other founders was... complicated. She was often seen as too radical or too difficult to work with by some of the white founders. She eventually drifted away from the formal leadership of the NAACP, but her DNA is all over the organization's early militant stance against racial violence.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Early Years
People think the NAACP was always this massive, powerful lobbying group. It wasn't. It was scrappy. It was broke. It was constantly fighting internal battles over whether to focus on legal cases or grassroots protests.
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There was also a huge tension between the white leadership and the Black members. For the first several years, the president of the NAACP was always white. Moorfield Storey, a constitutional lawyer, was the first president. It took until 1920 for James Weldon Johnson to become the first Black executive secretary. This power dynamic is a huge part of the story when asking who was the founder of the NAACP. It was a "big tent" organization that sometimes struggled to keep everyone under the same roof.
The Niagara Movement Connection
Before the NAACP, there was the Niagara Movement. This was Du Bois's first real attempt at an organized protest group in 1905. It failed, mostly because it lacked funding and had internal beefs. But it served as the blueprint. When the 1908 Springfield riot happened, the remnants of the Niagara Movement realized they needed white allies with deep pockets and political connections. That’s how the NAACP was born—it was essentially Niagara Movement 2.0, but with a broader, interracial base.
Why the Founder Question Matters Today
Knowing who was the founder of the NAACP helps us understand why the organization operates the way it does today. It was built on a foundation of legal brilliance and radical journalism. It wasn't just about "getting along"; it was about using the law as a weapon.
When you look at the founding group, you see socialists, suffragists, lawyers, and journalists. It was a coalition. In a time where we often retreat into our own bubbles, the fact that this group came together in 1909—a time of peak segregation—is actually pretty wild. They were literally risking their social standing and sometimes their lives to meet in the same room.
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The Impact That Followed the Founders
The founders set the stage for the legal victories that would define the 20th century. Thurgood Marshall didn't just appear out of nowhere; he was hired by the organization the founders built. The strategy used in Brown v. Board of Education was a direct evolution of the legal committee structure established by Moorfield Storey and W.E.B. Du Bois.
They tackled the "grandfather clauses" that stopped Black men from voting. They fought against the "white primary." They pushed for a federal anti-lynching bill for decades. While they didn't win every battle, they created the first permanent, national infrastructure for civil rights in America.
Taking Action: How to Use This History
Understanding history is useless if you don't do anything with it. If you're looking to honor the legacy of the NAACP founders, here is how you can actually engage with that history today:
- Primary Source Research: Stop relying on Wikipedia summaries. Go to the Library of Congress website and read the original 1909 "Call." It’s visceral. It’s angry. It’s worth your time.
- Support Local Chapters: The NAACP is a federation. The real work usually happens at the branch level. Find your local branch and see what their current legal priorities are.
- Read "The Crisis": It’s still being published. Compare the issues Du Bois wrote about in 1915 to the issues being covered today. You’ll be surprised—and probably a little frustrated—by how many themes overlap.
- Investigate Your Own Town's History: The NAACP was sparked by a riot in a "Northern" city. Many people assume racial violence was only a Southern problem. Look into the 1900s history of your own city; you might find the reason why a local NAACP branch was first formed.
The founders of the NAACP weren't saints, and they weren't a monolith. They were a group of people who were tired of seeing the country fail its own promises. By recognizing the full list of founders—Du Bois, Ovington, Wells, Walling, and the rest—we get a much clearer picture of how change actually happens: through messy, unlikely, and persistent collaboration.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge
To truly grasp the magnitude of the NAACP’s founding, your next move should be to examine the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. This event was the literal "big bang" for the organization. Understanding the brutality of that specific riot explains why the founders felt a legal and social defense fund was no longer optional, but a matter of survival. Search for the Illinois State Historical Society archives on the riot to see the photos and testimonials that galvanized Ovington and Du Bois into action.