On October 23, 1913, the Seattle Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded. It becomes the first national civil rights organization to be established in the city. Letitia Graves, a beautician, is elected president. Eight of the 14 founders are women.
The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909. It established its national office in New York City in 1910. The Seattle branch was one of the earliest branches formed west of the Mississippi River.
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, Manuscripts and University Archives, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Records 1935-1966, Accession No. 994; Quintard Taylor, The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Movement (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994); "NAACP Centennial Celebration 02-12-1909," NAACP website accessed February 12, 1909 (http://www.naacp.org/about/history/index.htm).
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