National Association of Colored Women

The National Association of Colored Women (NACW) was established in Washington as the product of the merger in 1896 of the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the National League of Colored Women, organizations that had arisen out of the African American women's club movement. Founders of the NACW included Harriet Tubman, Frances E.W. Harper, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell. Its two leading members were Josephine Ruffin and Mary Church Terrell. The original intention of the organization was "to furnish evidence of the moral, mental and material progress made by people of colour through the efforts of our women". However, over the next ten years the NACW became involved in the campaigns in favour of women's suffrage and against lynching and Jim Crow laws. By the time the United States entered the First World War membership of the NACW had reached 300,000.

Notable Presidents

• Mary Church Terrell – 1st President (1896 – 1900)
• Josephine Silone Yates – 2nd President (1900 – 1904)
• Lucy Thurman – 3rd President (1904 – 1908)
• Elizabeth Carter Brooks – 4th President (1908 – 1912)
• Mary B. Talbert – 6th President (1916 – 1920)
• Mary McLeod Bethune – 8th President (1924 – 1928)
• Juanita W. Brown – 19th President (1972 – 1976)
• Savannah C. Jones – 24th President (1992 – 1996)
• Patricia L. Fletcher – 25th President (1996 – 2002)
• Margaret J. Cooper – 26th President (2002 – current)