The Norwich Branch NAACP was established in 1963 to continue the work of the National Organization within the State of Connecticut. The Norwich branch believes that the NAACP’s goals of equality, justice and civil rights for all people are as timely today as they were when the national organization was founded in 1909.
Mr. Linwood Bland was President of the New London Branch NAACP and well known for his devotion to civil rights work in Southeastern Connecticut. After receiving discrimination complaints from Norwich citizens who held membership in the New London Branch, Linwood Bland and Amanda Braboy (of Norwich) began to gather memberships to form the Norwich Branch. Mrs. Esther B. Hayes was the first person to pay her membership to begin the chartering of the NACCP Norwich Branch.
Among the complaints received from Blacks was that an eatery on West Main Street would require Blacks to pay in advance for their meals and then would break the glasses they used in their presence.
On October 14, 1963, the Norwich Branch NAACP received its charter from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with a total of 111 chartered members.
Formed in 1909, by a multiracial group of progressive thinkers, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP) is a non-profit organization. The NAACP has as its mission the goal of eliminating race prejudice and removing all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic process.
Throughout its history, the pursuit of racial equality has been fought by educating members and the greater society of their constitutional rights and by taking all lawful actions to secure the exercise of those rights.