Organization Mission:
Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. Organization Vision:
The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race. Objectives:
• To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens.
• To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States
• To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes
• To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights
• To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination
• To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to ensure the exercise thereof,
• To take any other lawful action in the furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP's Articles of Incorporation and Constitution.
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Brief History In the early 1950’s, in response to the continuing practices of segregation and discrimination in Virginia and across the nation, the Negro citizens of New Kent and Charles City counties sought assistance of the Virginia Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in organizing a local branch that would serve both Counties. Watkins, a minister from New Kent, who was pastor of churches in both Charles City and New Kent Counties. He was Principal of the Black school in New Kent named after him, G.W. Watkins High School. This bi-county branch would continue to exist until 1960. In 1956, Calvin C. Green and his wife, Mary, moved their family to New Kent and became active in the local Branch. Green soon recognized the need to reorganize the Branch and form separate branches that could better address the unique problems in each County. On March 19, 1960, the New Kent NAACP Branch application was approved, and the charter issued. The first elected officers of the Branch were: President, Calvin C. Green; Vice-President, George A. Whiting; 1st Vice-President, Helen H. Burrell; Secretary, Ercrute Travers; Assistant Secretary, Althea Holmes; and Treasurer, Andrew Woodson. The Branch, under the leadership of Calvin C. Green focused on segregation and discrimination in education and employment, and soon established itself as the official voice of the Negro citizens of New Kent. Green and the New Kent NAACP immediately began to pressure the school board to desegregate the county’s schools. In 1964, the branch approved Dr. Green’s proposal to sponsor a lawsuit against the New Kent County School Board. The branch was successful in garnering over 500 signatures on a petition in support of school desegregation. In1965, in response to the board’s failure to take seriously the desegregation petition, Green and the branch, with the support of the Virginia NAACP Conference filed a lawsuit in the U.S. The case, Charles C. GREEN et al. v. COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OF NEW KENT COUNTY, VIRGINIA et al., was argued by noted civil rights attorney’s S.W. Tucker, Henry L. Marsh III, and Oliver W. Hill. The lawsuit, filed in Green’s youngest son’s name was twice defeated, first in the U.S. District Court and on appeal in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. After much analysis, the state NAACP petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. In October 1967, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The question for decision was whether, under all circumstances, respondent School Board's adoption of a 'freedom-of-choice' plan which allows a pupil to choose his own public school constitutes adequate compliance with the Board's responsibility 'to achieve a system of determining admission to the public schools on a non-racial basis * * *.' Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., 349 U.S. 294, 300 301, 75 S.Ct. 753, 756, 99 L.Ed. 1083 (Brown II). Initially, the New Kent School Board sought dismissal of this suit on the grounds that petitioners failed to apply to the State Board for assignment to New Kent school. On August 2, 1965, five months after the suit was filed, to remain eligible for federal financial aid the School Board adopted a 'freedom-of-choice' plan for desegregating the schools. On May 27, 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its decision in support of the Charles C. COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OF NEW KENT COUNTY, VIRGINIA et al. This landmark decision ruled that desegregation is more than formal race-blind choice, and “Freedom of Choice plans could not be used to delay or avoid desegregation. This was not simply a victory for students in New Kent County, the decision affected school systems throughout the nation. The U.S. Supreme Court had finally agreed with Green and the New Kent NAACP that it was the duty of school boards to affirmatively eliminate all traces of state-imposed segregation that Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954,1955) found unconstitutional. In December 1976, Dr. Calvin C. Green stepped down as president and on January 1, 1977, Edward W. Pollard was elected as our second president. Like Dr. Calvin C. Green, Edward Pollard would lead the Branch to address major issues confronting people of color in New Kent. Over the next four decades of his leadership strategic alliances with the New Kent Civic League would lead to successful challenges of New Kent’s Redistricting Plans that resulted in increasing the number of electoral districts from four to five. He also saw the election of the first African American Chairman of the New Kent Board of Supervisors; the first female member of the New Kent School Board; the first African American Chairman of the New Kent School Board; the first African American Chairman of the New Kent Planning Commission; and the first African American County Administrator in New Kent’s history. Pollard also served over twenty-five years on the New Kent Planning Commission. In 1989, the Branch received national recognition when it was awarded the Thalheimer Award for outstanding work in implementation of the Association’s strategic priorities and goals. The award was presented at the NAACPs 81st Convention in Los Angeles, California. In 2018, Burrell R. Pollard, Jr. was elected as our third president. In just a few short years, his focus on creating connections and building relationships significantly increased our membership and finances. His mantra of “Relationship and Results”. forged creative alliances with elected and appointed officials locally and statewide. At the time of his death on September 8, 2020, the New Kent NAACP was poised to become the voice of people of color once again in New Kent. In 2020, Joe Crump was elected as our fourth president. Crump, an educator and coach in the New Kent Public Schools has focused the Branch on the value of Collective Impact, Strategic Engagement, and the use of social media to provide real-time updates to the membership and community. Under his leadership the Branch hosted a Community Issues and Opportunities Discussion that produced a two-year Strategic Plan of Action for the Branch. On March 19, 2021, the New Kent NAACP celebrated 61 years of consistent, effective, and strategic community engagement. We remain committed to securing the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights, to eliminate race-based discrimination, and ensure the health and well-being of all persons in New Kent. As we endeavor to build on the solid foundation passed to us, we are guided by the vision of One New Kent where all individuals have equal rights and opportunities without discrimination based on race. For more information, check out our partner sites: NAACP https://www.naacp.org/about-us/ Become A Member https://www.naacp.org/membership/ Virginia State Conference NAACP - https://vscnaacp.org/ Richmond VA NAACP https://www.facebook.com/RichmondVirginiaBranchNAACP Henrico VA NAACP https://www.facebook.com/HenricoVANAACP New Kent County Government Website https://www.co.new-kent.va.us/ New Kent County Public Schools Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NKCPS/ New Kent County Public Schools Website http://newkentschools.org New Kent County School Board http://newkentschools.org/about_nkcps/school_board Congregational Black Caucus https://www.cbcfinc.org/ Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies https://jointcenter.org/ Whitehouse Office of Public Engagement https://www.whitehouse.gov/ope/
