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Learn more about the NAACP's national and state victories below.
National Victories
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Standing with the Scott Sisters
Campaign: The NAACP helped lead a national campaign in support of the Scott Sisters, two Mississippi women sentenced to double-life sentences for a 1994 crime which yielded $11. NAACP President & CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous requested a pardon for the sisters from Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour in September 2010.
Result: After a national campaign in which the NAACP obtained more than 40,000 signatures in support of the Scott Sisters' release, thousands of letters of encouragement from our e-mail list, several NAACP-led rallies and personal requests from President Jealous, Governor Barbour granted the Scott Sisters their release in December 2010.
Fighting for Health Care as a Civil Right
Campaign: The NAACP established an unprecedented Civil Rights Health Care War Room in Washington, DC along with the National Urban League and Black Leadership Forum. Together we generated tens of thousands of phone calls to Congress, thousands of letters, and more than a dozen visits from State NAACP leadership to Congressional leaders in Washington.
Result: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care & Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 will extend health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans and will outlaw discrimination against patients with pre-existing medical conditions.
Strengthening Hate Crimes Enforcement
Campaign: NAACP supporters sent hundreds of letters and phone calls to Congress demanding tougher measures against hate crimes.
Result: The Mathew Shepard, James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which allows the federal government to prevent, investigate and prosecute hate crimes after 13 years.
Protecting the Working Poor
Campaign: Through calls and letters to Congress, NAACP members and supporters demanded action for families struggling with unemployment in difficult financial times.
Result: The Continuing Extension Act of 2010, extending federal unemployment benefits to those whose state-paid benefits have expired.
Upholding Justice for All
Campaign: The NAACP's I Am Troy Campaign made Troy Davis, a former sports coach sitting on death row even after seven of nine witnesses recanted their testimony, the face of racial disparities that remain in our criminal justice system.
Result: In a rare Supreme Court decision, evidence against Troy Davis was ordered to be re-heard and his sentence reconsidered.
Campaign: The NAACP National Criminal Justice team worked with the Georgia NAACP to bring justice on behalf of prisoners who launched a strike protesting lack of wages, limited healthcare and abuse by prison guards. The NAACP organized a communications and advocacy campaign elevating the needs of the prisoners, while national leadership met with GA Gov. Deal to discuss best practices for engaging prisoners.
Result: Seven prison guards were suspended from work without a pay as a result of NAACP efforts. In addition, Governor Deal and the NAACP agreed to support each other to pass HB 265, which calls for a study commission to reduce Georgia's prison population, improve prison conditions and develop a re-entry plan to help formerly incarcerated people better re-integrate into society.
Combating Employment Discrimination
Campaign: Through letters and faxes to Congress, NAACP supporters demanded that equal work for equal pay become the law of the land.
Result: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, combating discrimination in employment wages, became the first act of Congress signed by President Obama after taking office.
Protecting Vulnerable Populations
Campaign: In the days after the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti, NAACP leaders met with White House officials to discuss the plight of thousands of Haitian travelers and immigrants in the United States facing deportation to their devastated homeland.
Result: Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was granted for Haitian nationals living in the United States.
Curbing Predatory Lending
Campaign: NAACP members and supporters demanded stronger consumer protections against credit card companies.
Result: The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights of 2009 curbs predatory lending practices by credit card companies.
Protecting Children's Health
Campaign: After President George W. Bush twice vetoed legislation to extend health coverage to working class children, the NAACP launched a nationwide campaign, generating calls and letters to Congress to not let these children slip through the cracks.
Result: The Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 expanded health insurance coverage to 4.1 million children.
State Victories
California
Successful engagement on "ban the box" has resulted in an administrative order from the Governor's office that removed the question of criminal history from employment applications for state positions.
New York
NAACP members statewide rallied behind John White, supporting his family during the trial and guarding his home. After struggling for four years to clear his name, White was released from prison and reunited with his family in time for Christmas 2010.
New York
In March 2009, the state legislature repealed much of the State's Rockefeller drug laws that had sent thousands to prison for low-level offenses.
New Mexico
In March 2009, the state of successfully repealed the death penalty.
North Carolina
In August 2009 the state successfully passed the Racial Justice Act allows a defendant facing a capital trial or an inmate sentenced to death to use evidence showing a pattern of racial disparity as a way of challenging racial injustice in the death penalty.
Ohio
In 2008, the state legislature passed legistlation to cap interest rates on short term payday loans that had targeted low-income communities.
Governor Bob McDonnell acknowledged that the NAACP's "Educate over Incarcerate" billboard campaign was a basis for his rationale to recommend closure of two Virginia prison facilities. In his proposal, the Governor advocated that the dollars saved from prison closings be invested in education.