Till Victory Is Won - Famous Black Quotations From the Naacp

Informationen zum Autor Janet Cheatham Bell Klappentext Taking its title from the moving lyrics of the official song of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," Till Victory Is Won chronicles significant moments in African-American history through more than two hundred illuminating quotations from NAACP officers, members, and award recipients.Focusing on five major topics -- Protecting Civil Rights, Achieving Educational Excellence, Nurturing Economic Development, Reaching Youth, and Gaining Political Power -- this extraordinary anthology inspires and informs. Featured voices include: * Kweisi Mfume * Duke Ellington * Rosa Parks * Hank Aaron * Carter G. Woodson * W.E.B. Du Bois * Thurgood Marshall * Maya Angelou * Harry Belafonte * Sidney Poitier * Sara Lawrence Lightfoot * Martin Luther King Jr. * Halle Berry * Michael Jordan * Earvin (Magic) Johnson * Colin Powell * George Washington Carver * Jesse Jackson * Oprah Winfrey * Lauryn Hill * Henry Louis Gates Jr. * Toni Morrison * Susan Taylor * Langston Hughes * Jackie Robinson * Quincy Jones * Alice Walker * Spike Lee * Cornel West * Patti LaBelle * James Earl Jones ...and countless others who share their perspectives on the life-changing work of the NAACP and its place in history. Leseprobe Chapter One: Know Something to Believe in Something It is imperative that young people be told that we have come a long way, otherwise they are likely to become cynical. A cynical young person...means that he or she has gone from knowing nothing to believing in nothing. MAYA ANGELOU When I was a teenager and a member of the Youth Division of the NAACP, we picketed a supermarket in Indianapolis that refused to hire blacks. I joined the picket line again while studying at Indiana University when the local NAACP branch was marching in front of a barbershop near the Bloomington campus that would not serve African-Americans. In both instances the local branches were successful in eliminating racial discrimination. NAACP branches around the country have repeatedly planned and carried out similar attacks on racism. And much of the time their efforts have been effective because the NAACP is relentless. Shelley v. Kraemer is a case in point. It took thirty-one years, but the NAACP won its battle against restrictive covenants -- clauses in real estate deeds forbidding the sale of property to a buyer because of his race. In a unanimous decision the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1948 that such clauses were unconstitutional. The title Till Victory Is Won is a phrase from the NAACP's official song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." I use it here in homage to the NAACP's persistence. Although their tactics have changed as circumstances have dictated, the organization is committed to staying the course on this long journey to freedom and justice until victory is finally won. AMERICAN APARTHEID In a speech, Julian Bond, board chairman of the NAACP, reminded his audience, "American slavery was a human horror of staggering dimensions. It lasted twenty times longer than the Nazi holocaust, killed ten times as many people, and destroyed cultures on three continents. The profits it produced endowed great fortunes and enriched generations." In 1909 when the NAACP was founded, only forty-four years had passed since slavery had officially been outlawed. Today, slavery's legacy -- racism in all areas of American life -- remains with us. Before the NAACP was up and running and for many years afterward, whites and blacks were not allowed to interact openly unless the black person was clearly perceived as being subservient. Everything -- public transportation, education, restaurants, hotels, entertainment, neighborhoods, employment -- was se...

Product details

• Authors: Bell, Janet Cheatham Bell
• Assisted by: Julian Bond (Foreword)
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 25.02.2002
• EAN: 9780743428255
• ISBN: 978-0-7434-2825-5
• No. of pages: 208
• Subjects: Fiction > Mixed anthologies; Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous