African American and African Studies Directories
General Listings
These resources offer extensive listings of African American associations and organizations:
Associations Unlimited http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/AU?locID=ucinc_main
eBlack Studies: Organizations http://www.eblackstudies.org/organizations.html
ASALH-Association for the Study of African American Life and History http://www.asalh.com/intro.htm
Founded in 1915 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson to “promote, research, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information about Black life, history, and culture…”
Association of Black Psychologists http://www.abpsi.org/index.htm
Founded in 1968, the purpose of this organization is to “ have a positive impact upon the mental health of the national Black community by means of planning, programs, services, training, and advocacy.”
Black Administrators in Child Welfare, Inc. http://www.blackadministrators.org/index2.html
Black Administrators in Child Welfare is a nationwide, non-profit organization established in 1971 and dedicated “to improving the lives of African American children and their families who are gravely overrepresented in the nation’s child welfare system.”
Civil Rights.Org-The Progressive Coalition for Equal Opportunity and Justice http://www.civilrights.org/index.html
“Civilrights.org is a collaboration of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. Its mission: to serve as the site of record for relevant and up-to-the minute civil rights news and information.”
Civil Rights Movement Veterans http://www.crmvet.org/
This organization of veterans of the civil rights movement maintains a web site devoted to documenting their part in the Southern Freedom Movement through personal narratives, documents, poetry, and commentaries.
Friends of Freedom Society Ohio Underground Railroad Association http://www.ohioundergroundrailroad.org/
“The Friends of Freedom Society, Inc.-Ohio Underground Railroad Association is a grassroots, all volunteer non-profit organization, whose sole purpose is to research, identify, document and preserve Underground Railroad sites throughout Ohio.”
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies http://www.jointcenter.org/
An international non-profit instutution founded in 1970, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies conducts research on public policy matters that affect African Americans and other minority groups.
NAACP http://www.naacp.org
“The NAACP insures the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority groups and citizens; achieves equality of rights and eliminates race prejudice among the citizens of the United States; removes all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic processes; seeks to enact and enforce federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights; informs the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and seeks its elimination; educates persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action in furtherance of these principles.”
National Council of Negro Women, Inc. http://www.ncnw.org/
Founded in 1935 by Mary Mcleod Bethune, “NCNW is a voluntary non-profit [501(c)(3] membership organization with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African American women, their families and communities. NCNW fulfills this mission through research, advocacy, national and community based services and programs in the United States and Africa. With its 38 national affiliate organizations and its more than 200 community based sections, NCNW has an outreach to nearly four million women, all contributing to the peaceful solutions to the problems of human welfare and rights."
National Urban League http://www.nul.org/
“The Urban League is the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream.”
Urban League of Greater Cincinnati http://www.gcul.org/intro.htm
United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crt-home.html
“The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice was established in 1957. The Division is the program institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, handicap, religion, and national origin. Since its establishment, the Division has grown dramatically both in size and responsibility.
The Division enforces the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended through 1992; the Equal Credit Opportunity Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; the National Voter Registration Act; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act; the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act; and additional civil rights provisions contained in other laws and regulations. These laws prohibit discrimination in education, employment, credit, housing, public accommodations and facilities, voting, and certain federally funded and conducted programs.
The Division enforces the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980, which authorizes the Attorney General to seek relief for persons confined in public institutions where conditions exist that deprive residents of their constitutional rights; the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the Police Misconduct Provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994; and Section 102 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin and citizenship status as well as document abuse and retaliation under the Immigration and Nationality Act. In addition, the Division prosecutes actions under several criminal civil rights statutes which were designed to preserve personal liberties and safety.”
Amistad Research Center http://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/aboutarc.htm
Named for the schooner, La Amistad, the Amistad Research Center is “ the nation's largest independent archives specializing in the history of African Americans and other ethnic groups, the Amistad Research Center is dedicated to preserving America's ethnic heritage by providing a home to the manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, books, periodicals and works of art that contain the history of peoples, of nations, of beliefs and dreams…”
Anacosta Museum & Center for African American History and Culture http://anacostia.si.edu/academy.htm
Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the Anacosta Museum places its emphasis on collecting material culture associated with African Americans.
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute http://www.bcri.org/index.html
Opened in 1992, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute maintains a civil rights archive and features exhibits designed to “focus on what happened in the past, to portray it realistically and interestingly, and to understand it in relationship to the present and future developments of human relations…”
DuSable Museum of African American History http://www.dusablemuseum.org/
Founded in Chicago in 1961 and named for Chicago’s first permanent settler, Jean Baptist Pointe DuSable, a black Haitian fur trader, the DuSable Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and interpreting African American history and culture.
The King Center http://thekingcenter.com/
“Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official, living memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of America’s greatest nonviolent movement for justice, equality and peace.”
National Civil Rights Museum http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org
Opened in 1991 at the site of the Lorraine Motel this museum has as its purpose to educate the public about the civil rights movement.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center http://www.freedomcenter.org
Opened in 2004, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center “offers lessons and reflections on the struggle for freedom.”
Ohio Historical Society National Afro-American Museum and Culture Center http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/afroam/
“The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center near Dayton aims to educate the public about African American history and culture from African origins to the present through a variety of programs, including museum exhibits, research and publications, visiting scholars, oral and visual history and adult and children's educational activities.”
| Web site content: Sally Moffitt |