Which organization formed to advance civil rights for African Americans in the early 1900s?

• A. NAACP
• B. ACLU
• C. National Urban League
• D. Klan

Answer: (A)

In the early 20th century, groups formed to push for legal equality and protection from racial oppression, using courts, lobbying, and public campaigns to advance civil rights for African Americans. The NAACP, created in 1909 by a diverse coalition including W. E. B. Du Bois and Jane Addams, set out specifically to secure civil rights through legal challenges and advocacy. This focus on equality before the law and direct anti-lynching and anti-segregation efforts makes it the organization most rightly described as formed to advance civil rights for African Americans during this period.

The ACLU, while defending civil liberties, emerged in 1920 with a broader constitutional rights mission rather than a targeted civil rights push for African Americans. The National Urban League, founded around 1910, concentrated on economic empowerment, employment, and urban self-help, which supported civil rights but through economic and social uplift rather than broad civil rights advocacy. The Klan represents white supremacist violence and intimidation, not a civil rights advancement movement.