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Early
History
Founded in 1919
on the campus of Knoxville College, the Knoxville Branch of the NAACP
has had a long and glorious history of serving the Knoxville Community.
During the early thirties and forties the branch was primarily involved
in cases involving local Jim Crowe laws. In the late fifties and early
sixties the Knoxville Branch of the NAACP was the leader of the school
desegregation movement in Knoxville (Goss vs. The Knoxville City Board
of Education) and numerous other civil rights ventures.
Recent
Legal Actions
In 1989, the Knoxville
Branch NAACP filed a complaint with the United States Department of
Education alleging that the Knox County school system was operating
a dual education system. As a result of that complaint more than 40
million dollars has been spent on inner city schools in Knox County
over the past ten years and the number of African-American teachers
and administrators has more than quadrupled during this time.
Police
Advisory Review Committee
In 1992, the Knoxville
NAACP first requested a civilian review board for the city of Knoxville
to help with problems that the community was having with the police
department. In 1998, after an outcry by citizens of the inner city communitities,
local ministers and the Knoxville NAACP over recent deaths of three
African-American citizens at the hands of the Knoxville Police Department,
a Police Advisory Review Committee was formed to deal with cases of
police misconduct.
Conflict
Resolution and Community Involvement
Because
of the high visibility of the Knoxville Branch, it receives calls from
all over the country requesting assistance with local civil rights problems.
Handling dozens of complaints each month the volunteers of the Knoxville
NAACP meet with officials of different companies and entitites on a
regular basis to try and resolve conflicts arising from racial discriminiation
problems. Additionally, NAACP volunteers collaborate to develop strategies
that will help develop the inner city communities of Knoxville, Both
economically and socially. The most recent event was a highly successful
Minority Economic Summit held at Knoxville College in the fall of last
year. Each year the NAACP holds an "Unsung Heroes Banquet"
to honor those people in our community who have not been previously
honored for their efforts.
Membership
The Knoxville NAACP
is supported by hundreds of members who yearly pledge their support
in the form of memberships which are used for the upkeep of the local
branch and the national organization.
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