Oswald Villard, the NAACP and The Nation (Page 3)

In 1909, when the founders of the NAACP needed help organizing their new civil rights group, they reached out to Oswald Garrison Villard, The Nation's future editor and owner.

The report of the preliminary committee was accepted by the business meeting of the conference, which opened in New York on May 12, 1910. The permanent organization consisted of a national Committee of One Hundred whose function was to raise funds and lend prestige to the parent body. Moorfield Storey of Boston, constitutional lawyer and anti-imperialist, was named national president. An Executive Committee was chosen with Walling again as chairman, John E. Milholland, treasurer, and Villard, disbursing treasurer. The organization was officially named The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

At an executive session of the newly formed NAACP, held on the last day of the conference, it was decided to concentrate efforts on an aggressive campaign of publicity and investigation, with Du Bois as National Secretary and Chairman of the Executive Committee. Because of the protest of Miss Blascoer, who was directing the organizational work, Villard secured a further change which led to Du Bois becoming Director of Publicity and Research instead.

The engaging of Du Bois marked the culmination of a tug of war that had been going on during the first year between conservatives and radicals within the organization. Now there was no longer any attempt to balance the two factions. With the enthusiastic support of Villard, Du Bois proceeded at once to publish The Crisis. Its growth was phenomenal, for through its pages the fiery editor gave leadership and inspiration to the colored people of the country.

Even before the conference, Villard had taken Washington to task in an Evening Post editorial, aligning himself with Du Bois and the radicals. In effect, he served notice that the new organization would take a forthright stand in opposition to the compromising policies and program of Washington.

In the meantime, the organization took root outside of New York City. As early as October, 1909, the nucleus of a branch had appeared in Boston, where Villard and his uncles arranged a Garrison memorial meeting to bring together those who were interested. Out of this celebration grew the Boston Committee to Advance the Cause of the Negro which, in 1911, became a branch of the NAACP. Mass meetings in Chicago, Cleveland and Buffalo during the autumn of 1910 served to spread the movement.

By the end of 1910, it was apparent that the Constitution League, which had been doing the NAACP's legal work, was not meeting the association's needs. The league failed to make headway with the Pink Franklin case, and Villard assumed control. This was a peonage case involving an illiterate farm hand, Pink Franklin, who had unintentionally killed a sheriff sent to arrest him for an alleged violation of an agricultural contract. Villard appealed to Booker T. Washington for aid and Washington suggested a program of action which the association carried out. This, in addition to President Taft's intercession on the prisoner's behalf-secured by Villard through Charles Dyer Norton, Assistant Treasurer of the United States, who had married into the Garrison family -- led to the commutation of Franklin's sentence. As a result of this success and the failure of the Constitution League, the association adopted Villard's recommendation that a legal-redress department be established. Villard's Committee on Program was assigned the problem of organizing this department and formulating a plan of action.

Villard was also given the responsibility of carrying out the incorporation of the association, which was accomplished on June 19, 1911; and he became the first Chairman of the board, a position he held until 1914. Thus did he bring to fruition his plans for a committee which would aggressively champion the wrongs of the Negro race. That he was able to realize his dream was evidence of his ability as an organizer, his power of, persuasion and the influence of his social and business position. The magic of the Garrison name won him respect and confidence in the Negro world shared by few white men. His dominating personality, however, made him intolerant of anyone who questioned his command. Within a few years of the founding of the association, when his authority as board chairman was challenged by Du Bois in the operation of The Crisis, Villard withdrew almost completely from the work. When he retired from active leadership, however, the "new abolition movement" was well under way. The association had expanded to twenty-four branches, and three thousand members. It was, in the words of Du Bois, "out of debt, aggressive, and full of faith."

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