"For more than a century the NAACP has been essential to struggles for racial justice and civil rights. Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People grew quickly, setting agendas and developing tactics that propelled the civil rights movement through the 20th century... From an early date, the NAACP was a grass roots organization with a mass membership based in hundreds of communities across the nation. NAACP local branches have always been key to the organization's endurance and effectiveness."