ABSTRACT

If the American public’s image of the NAACP’s method of operationhas been characterized by litigation alone, then it has failed to appreciate one of the critical elements in the association’s nine-decade saga: by 1930 winning parity at the polls was perceived by the NAACP leadership as the key to attaining equality in every other sphere. It has been a virtual given among most NAACP leaders since World War II that the ballot box offered the most direct route to the realization of full freedom and dignity. Further, the more sagacious NAACP leaders understood fully that most Americans held the right to vote as the most sacrosanct of all rights and that they would be hard-pressed as a people to deny any citizen that right (except, of course, where Americans were being directly challenged in the Deep South. Even there, numerous white voices became aroused during the critical years to support the African American’s “dangerous” campaign for full enfranchisement).