 | An Army of Lions: The Civil Rights Struggle Before the NAACP Subjects: African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 19th century; African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century; Civil rights movements -- Civil rights -- History -- 19th century; Civil rights movements -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th centur; In 1890, a delegation of African American activists formed the Afro-American League, the nation's first national civil rights organization. Over the course of nearly two decades, these activists fought to end disfranchisement and segregation, and to contest racial violence, creating the foundation for the NAACP and the modern civil rights movement. Shawn Leigh Alexander is Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Kansas. |
