The Norman Foundation’s relationship with the NAACP stretches back to the 1950s — one of the longest and most consequential partnerships in the Foundation’s history. Founded in 1942, the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP (NC NAACP, Norman grantee 2014–2018) is the largest state chapter of the NAACP in the South, with over 100 adult, youth, and college branches organizing for policy change in voting rights, criminal justice, education, healthcare, and economic justice. In 2006, NC NAACP convened members, faith leaders, and social justice organizations around the 14-Point People’s Agenda that became the foundation for the Forward Together Moral Movement and its weekly Moral Monday demonstrations at the state legislature — a model for peaceful protest adapted by other states across the country.

The movement was forged in direct response to the Supreme Court’s 2013 gutting of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder which led to North Carolina’s legislature passing the nation’s most sweeping voter suppression law: eliminating same-day registration, reducing early voting, and imposing a strict photo ID requirement. NC NAACP filed suit immediately, providing evidence of deliberate discriminatory intent; in July 2016, the federal Fourth Circuit Court struck down the law in a unanimous decision, finding that legislators had crafted voting restrictions targeting Black voters with “almost surgical precision.” Under Reverend William Barber II’s leadership, NC NAACP built a fusion coalition that united Black, Latino, immigrant, LGBTQ, labor, and faith communities around a shared moral vision — a model Barber carried to the national stage when he re-launched the Poor People’s Campaign in 2018.

Tags: Voting Rights and Voter Engagement, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties

Media:

• Video: Moral March on Raleigh