National American Woman Suffrage Association

Progressives played a big role in trying to improve the lives of women. Women had been formally
asking for the right to vote as early as 1848 in the United States. Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized a
convention for women in Seneca Falls, NY to tell other women that the only way to have the power to
make changes within society and in the government was if women had the power to vote. Many women
also began joining organizations such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association
(NAWSA), of which Stanton was the first president.

The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) formed in May 1890. The NAWSA
was the largest and most important suffrage organization in the United States, and was the primary
promoter of women's right to vote. NAWSA pushed for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing
women's voting rights, and was instrumental in winning the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment
to the United States Constitution in 1920 which finally gave the vote to women legally.

1. What was the goal of the NAWSA?

2. When was the organization formed, and who was the first president?
3. What was the long term effect of the ladies work?
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Progressives played a big role in trying to improve the lives of African Americans. African Americans
were facing a struggle to gain political power. There were many different leaders trying gain these
rights, one leader was Booker T. Washington who was an educator, founder of the Tuskegee Institute,
and believed in encouraging others to gain respect and status by working hard. Some joined large
groups, such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) which was
founded in 1909. This group pushed hard to ensure people were given their 15th Amendment rights.
W.E.B. Du Bois was a founding member of the NAACP, writer of a journal called The Crisis that
focused on issues that African Americans faced. The NAACP helped organize protest, gave people in
need legal aid, and boycotted lynchings and other violence. In the first half of the 20th century, the
NAACP was largely unable to convince the national government to help them, but they were able to
gain national attention.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP , is
one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. Its mission is "to
ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate
racial hatred and racial discrimination". Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, is one of the
last surviving uses of the term colored people, now considered by most to be a racial slur.
Formation February 12, 1909
Purpose/focus "To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all
persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."

1. Who was the founder of the NAACP and what kind of approach did he
favor?
2. Why do you think it was that the NAACP was unable to convince the
government to make changes early in the 1900's?
3. What is the purpose of the NAACP?