Charleston Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People records

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was started on February 12, 1909, partly in response to the prevalence of lynching of African-Americans in America and the 1908 race riot that occurred in Springfield, Illinois. The African-Americans that were founding members included W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell. The Association has been involved in pivotal moments in civil rights history in America.

The Association has organized into regions and branches to serve the needs of local communities. South Carolina is located in region five. In 1939, Charleston, Cheraw, Florence, Georgetown, Greenville, and Sumter branches combined to form the South Carolina Conference of Branches.

The Charleston Branch of the NAACP was created in February 1917, and one of the founders and the first president was artist Edwin Harleston. Harleston knew W.E.B. DuBois from attending Atlanta University and saw himself as one of the Talented Tenth. Approximately, twenty-nine African-Americans participated in the founding of the branch; most were Harleston's family members, but they were able to recruit other members in large part to DuBois' 1917 appearance in Charleston. In 1919, Harleston and the NAACP successfully led a petition campaign to allow African-American teachers to teach on the Charleston peninsula. Other issues that were of importance included getting African American women jobs at Charleston's Navy Yard and the 1919 riot of Caucasian sailors and residents who attacked African-American businesses.

In 1956, educator Septima Poinsette Clark served as Vice-President of the Charleston NAACP Branch, and due to her participation she lost her job as a teacher. This was a consequence of the 1956 South Carolina general and permanent law that stated that no National Association for the Advancement of Colored People member can be employed by the state. Clark was one of many who were persecuted due to their participation in the Association.

Some of the issues that the Charleston branch was heavily involved with in the 1980s and 1990s were the representation of African-Americans in Congress and on Charleston's school board; the confederate flag in South Carolina and Georgia; and racism in secondary schools and institutions of higher learning.

The branch has continued to advocate for the rights of African Americans in Charleston and South Carolina. Today as well as in the 1980s and 1990s the NAACP has served as a space for African-Americans to make complaints against discriminatory practices that they witnessed or suffered themselves. Some issues that the branch tackles include school and economic inequalities, school and employment discrimination, media misrepresentation of African-Americans, and police brutality. In addition, they spearheaded voter registration and education campaigns; encourage the celebration of African-American history and culture by everyone, but specifically youth populations; and highlight the contributions of African-Americans on a local and national level.

Other South Carolina branches that were created, but have since been closed, include those in North Charleston, East Cooper, and Edisto, thus leaving Charleston as the sole branch to serve the local community.

As of 2012, the Charleston NAACP Branch president is Dorothy Dot Scott and the vice president is Joseph Darby.