Local Events

• In 1918, Cornelia F. Matthews worked with the national NAACP to organize a branch in Elmira.

Local Events

• A program on the life of Abraham Lincoln was presented in 1923 by the local NAACP.

• After 1928, membership in the Elmira NAACP declined and the branch became inactive.

Local Events

• In 1942, in response to systematic discrimination against black women seeking jobs at Bendix-Eclipse, the local chapter of the NAACP was re-established by the membership of the Negro Women's Progressive Club of Elmira led by Grace Mann

• In 1945, the Elmira NAACP revived the Neighborhood House Program.

• In 1946, the local NAACP hosted T.R. Parker of the Elmira Reformatory to speak about "the contribution of the Negro to civilization."

• Branch president Ellsworth E. English filed a report with the national NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund after four African American youths were denied service in a tavern in Elmira in 1947. He sought legal councel to deal with this violation of the Civil Rights Act of New York State.

• In 1947, the NAACP petitioned the Elmira City Council to hire African Americans for positions in the police and fire departments

Local Events

• In 1950, the NAACP held a Group Racial Forum. The three-point program's goal was to help overcome racial prejudice.

• The NAACP demanded the completion of the planned Jones Court housing project in Elmira in 1950.

• In 1950, Thomas Reid Jr. became Elmira's first black fireman.

• In 1953, Wilbur Reid became the Elmira Police Department’s first black officer in the 20th century and Fredrick D. Robinson, a member of the Elmira NAACP, became the first African American man to serve in the New York State Police.

• In 1955, Local members of the NAACP joined other branches in sending aid money to those in Clarendon County, South Carolina who were being mistreated following the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of school integration.

Local Events

• In 1960, the Elmira NAACP considered picketing the local Woolworth's store after the chain's southern stores refused to serve African Americans. The Elmira store manager spoke to the organization to assure members that he ran his store without discrimination and even employed two African Americans. The members voted not to picket the local store. 

• Patricia Bryant of Elmira was among the Freedom Riders jailed in Jackson, Mississippi in 1961.

• The Freedom Marches in 1963 in Washington, D.C. and other cities around the United States inspired the Elmira NAACP to take action by writing to local legislators with their concerns about housing and employment discrimination.

• In 1964, the NAACP took up the issue of discrimination in Elmira's public housing. An informal investigation found that, while residents of Jones Court were 99% African American, Hathorn Court only had one African American family and Hoffman Plaza had none.

• In May 1964, over 200 people marched from the Neighborhood House to Wisner Park in Elmira to mark the 10th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that  ended legal school segregation.

• In 1965, the Economic Opportunity Program Inc. of Elmira opened a day care center for low-income families based on a plan proposed by former NAACP branch president George Bragg.

• Local NAACP president Joseph Brown attended a memorial service and march in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. after his assassination on April 4, 1968. The event was organized by the juniors and seniors at Elmira Free Academy.

• In 1968, the Civil Rights Movement helped to bolster the local branch's membership to 675 adults and 90 youths.

• The local branch organized a protest in 1969 to prevent the demolition of two houses to make way for a gas station at Lake Street and Washington Avenue. Their actions against forced urban renewal were in keeping with their efforts to preserve and create new low-income housing options in the city.

Local Events

• In July 1972, the Elmira branch of the NAACP was reorganized as the Elmira-Corning branch in order to facilitate flood relief services in the greater area.

• The social services branch of the local NAACP donated nearly seven tons of food to those in need in 1972.

• The local NAACP investigated reports of double standards and possible mistreatment of African American Students at Elmira Free Academy in 1977.

Local Events

• In December 1980, the Gannett Foundation awarded $35,000 to the NAACP to administer a one-year pilot program at the Elmira Correctional Facility to help black inmates lead constructive lives after their release.

• In 1983, the NAACP was one of a coalition of black organizations in the Elmira-Corning area that collectively presented the United Negro College Fund with $10,000.

• In 1986, the local NAACP supported "Black Dollar Days," which urged minorities to pay for purchases exclusively with Susan B. Anthony dollar coins and $2 bills to show their impact on the local economy.

• In August 1989, the Elmira-Corning branch of the NAACP joined the Silent March in Washington, D.C. to protest recent Supreme Court decisions that were seen as threatening the progress made by minorities.

Local Events

• Former local NAACP president Frank Givens was one of 16 recipients of the first Governor's Awards for African Americans of Distinction in New York State in February 1992.

• In 1992, residents of the Elmira-Corning area began celebrating Juneteenth in Corning. The holiday commemorates when slaves in Texas learned of the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865. In 2002, Elmira started hosting an annual celebration.

• On August 29, 1993, members of the local branch march in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech.

Local Events

• The Elmira-Corning NAACP partnered with the United Steel Workers of America to sponsor a free bus trip to Washington, D.C. in 2010 in order to help locals participate in the One Nation Working Together movement.

• In 2014, members of the local NAACP traveled to Albany to protest Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan to close Camp Monterey, a facility which helped reintroduce inmates into society in a productive and beneficial way.

• In 2015, the Elmira-Corning Branch of the NAACP received the prestigious Thalheimer Award for excellence in programming at the NAACP national convention in Philadelphia.