Building Organizations are the Foundation for Movements

I’m gonna talk about a topic from my book, Movement Mentors, Dred Scott, Homer Plessy, and Rev. Oliver Brown, Three Courageous Men, Their Landmark Cases, and Their Enduring Legacies, now available on Amazon as well as at civilrightsuniversity.com.

Lesson Number 3, Building Organizations lays the Foundation for a Movement. Each movement mentor was also able to reach a broader coalition in order to fight. For example, Dred Scott had a coalition of supporters including the Blow family, who eventually granted him his freedom, lawyers, and clergy. In addition Homer Plessy was part of the Citizens Committee of New Orleans, that helped to support the legal challenge in his case. Finally, the NAACP LDF commenced a 20 year legal fight, of course resulting in the Brown I decision, and went on to produce generations of civil rights lawyers, and numerous accolades, that were well-deserved. Thus, I cannot underscore enough the importance of forming organizations.

When I listen to some of the griots and elders in the movement, one of the criticisms that I always hear is the lack of organizations, and I do think that our history can serve as a great teacher in this situation. Because if you look way back to even during slavery, Frederick Douglass, of course was part of a coalition of abolitionists. Also, if you watch a documentary from 2019, with Skip Gates, about Reconstruction, after the Civil War, in particular after the ratification of the Civil War Amendments, you can see the activity of the former enslaved people who wanted so much to participate in their civic freedom, and did so. One of the interesting notes from the documentary, was that the formerly enslaved people had their own freedom summer in the 1860s, almost a century before the more famous Freedom Summer, where Bob Moses and Stokely Carmichael who later became Kwame Toure, went down to the Mississippi Delta for the purpose of voter registration. In addition, once they were granted the right to vote, according to the documentary, at one point, almost 80 % of eligible Black men were registered to vote. Fast forward a century, during Freedom Summer, 1964 where SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was an organization that launched the campaign to register voters in Mississippi. In particular during the modern civil rights movement, SNCC, to use a military metaphor, was like the ground troops, as they could mobilize troops on the ground and in massive numbers. In addition to SNCC, you had SCLC, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Dr. King, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and others. Thus, you had all of these organizations operating at the same time, sometimes working together for example, SNCC and SCLC with the March from Selma to Montgomery. But there was also another organization, called the Nation of Islam founded by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, which had a young charismatic minister named Malcolm X, who eventually helped grow the organization into very large numbers. But each organization worked in various areas trying to advance the civil rights of African Americans and indeed all people. Dr. King and SCLC sought political change, meeting with the President in Washington, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Legal Department, which eventually became the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed lawsuits in the courts, resulting in what I would call a glorious revolution. These efforts were obviously a success, despite later criticisms. They all demonstrated the power of building organizations and laying the foundation. If you look at environmental rights and animal husbandry protections and how they came about, for instance, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Sierra Club, and others, were coordinated, funded, and had cohesion. They were able to put forth valuable legislation and change. Today, we should think about having and building organizations. One of the criticisms of current movements, particularly the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement which to its credit has been able to bring awareness and publicity to the slayings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Treyvon Martin, all the way up to Ahmaud Aubery, is the lack of organization. This is primarily because of the limitation of longevity, as building organizations brings you longevity.

So how do you build an organization?

1. Decide to start an organization around an issue you are truly passionate about.

2. Make a list of the resources that can assist you with starting your organization, and where to get that information from. There are numerous resources available that you can utilize to assist you. Figure out who you need to assist you with your organization, in terms of partnerships, contractors, including virtual contractors, and others.

4. Focus. You really want to have a focus. I have learned how important it is to focus on where you are going as this will make your awareness and/or marketing campaign easier.

5. Take action once you get out there and use your resources.

To find out about what resources we have available go to civilrightsuniversity.com While you're there, don't forget to sign up to be notified about future course offerings and other products and programs that can assist you in building your organization.

Remember building organizations are an important foundation to your movement.

Follow us on Twitter @Universitycivil. Also, pick up a copy of the book, Movement Mentors, Dred Scott, Homer Plessy, and Rev. Oliver Brown, Three Courageous Men, Their Landmark Cases, and Their Enduring Legacies. Subscribe to our podcast which is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

As always come back to civilrightsuniversity.com to check out some great resources, and our upcoming online courses. As always continue in your civil rights activism and your social justice,

Brian