National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

An organization that promotes the rights and welfare of black people. The NAACP is the oldest civil rights organization in the United States, founded in 1909. Among the NAACP's achievements was a lawsuit that resulted in the Supreme Court 's landmark decision in , in 1954, which declared the segregation of public schools unconstitutional. ( See also W. E. B. DuBois and separate but equal .)