LOCAL HISTORY
HELP US DOCUMENT OUR HISTORY
Trenton Branch NAACP is documenting our rich history in the region!
We are looking for materials (documents, articles, letters, photographs) to add to our local history collection.
Do you have an item that is part of NAACP history? Please email us a photo and we will include it in our online NAACP Trenton Branch archive.
Historical bronze plaque located in the South River Walk Park on top of the Route 29 tunnel in Trenton entitled "Righting Civil Wrongs and Ensuring Civil Rights."
NAACP TRENTON BRANCH - UNIT 2108B
The Trenton Branch NAACP was founded in 1913 by a group of African-American leaders, including the late Rev. John A. White, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church. Reverend White and some other founders were members of the Emancipation Proclamation Commission. They were disturbed by the fact that although the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 50 years earlier by President Lincoln, conditions for “colored people” were growing worse in Trenton. The initial goal of the Branch was to make a better place for its colored residents as well as its white residents.
From its early beginnings, the Branch later found itself immersed in the activism of the sixties, along with other NAACP Branches and organizations throughout the country. One of the most memorable events to take place in America was the August 28, 1963 “March on Washington”, the largest demonstration at the time held in our nation’s capital. The NAACP members from Trenton joined with members from Brooklyn to journey by bus to the event and were thrilled to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Unfortunately, the day was marred when the Trenton and Brooklyn members were not allowed to eat in a Maryland restaurant. The white ministers were also refused service due to “Jim Crow” laws that imposed racial segregation in public accommodations.
establishing our branch
The Trenton Branch NAACP was established on January 15, 1913. This Organizing Letter articulates our mission "to make Trenton a better place for colored people to live in, and if it becomes a better place for colored people to live in, it will also be a better place for white people to live in."