The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People works to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. The Greater Indianapolis Branch, #3053, commits to this work supporting Central Indiana.
Learn about our 2024 Legislative Day at the Indiana Statehouse. Get involved in our push for Black Academic Excellence. You can get involved in the fight for racial justice in many ways.
The Greater Indianapolis Branch #3053 is an all-volunteer organization formed in 1912, shortly after the national NAACP was formed. Our work today is as relevant as ever, as demonstrated by our recent accomplishments. Much more remains to be done.
We invite you to join the NAACP as a member and to attend our upcoming meetings and events. Together, we can build a community in the Greater Indianapolis area that respects the rights and dignity of all people.
About Indy NAACP
Greater Indianapolis Branch #3053
Chrystal Ratcliffe, the president of the Greater Indianapolis Branch #3053, has spent her entire adult life in a position of empowering people.
Mrs. Ratcliffe is a retired United Auto Workers union activist and has spent the last 24 years in leadership roles, where she has demonstrated a strong passion for labor rights and leadership. In addition, she continues as the community chairperson for the UAW; and is vice president of the AMVETS Auxiliary and Americanism Council.
"The mission of the NAACP continues to strive for political, educational, social and economic equality for all persons by eliminating hate-based discrimination," Ratcliffe said. "Our day-to-day activities are aimed at the continual advancement of our mission. The NAACP is an organization that empowers the citizens of this city to become active voices in their community and enact change."
Branch Officers
Chrystal Ratcliffe – President
Nora Hollis-Stockton – 1st Vice-President
Dr. Cinnamon Bell-Williams – 2nd Vice-President
Phyllis A. Carr – Secretary
Luberta Jenkins – Assistant Secretary & Co-Chair of Education
James G. White – Treasurer & Chair of Finance
Executive Committee
Paula Brooks – Chair of Environmental & Climate Justice
Amy Courtney – Chair of Communications, Press & Publicity
Sandra Parker – Chair of ACT-SO
Vickie Peterson – Chair of Health
Dr. Lionel T. Rush – Chair of Religious Affairs
Jerome Stanford – Chair of Labor
Maurice Scott – Chair of Legal Redress
Dr. Regina Turner Barclay – Co-Chair of Education
Carol Tyler – Chair of Armed Services & Veterans Affairs
Annette Johnson
Ira Mai Steele
Homer Smith
Branch Officers
Chrystal Ratcliffe – President
Nora Hollis-Stockton – 1st Vice-President
Dr. Cinnamon Bell-Williams – 2nd Vice-President
Phyllis A. Carr – Secretary
Luberta Jenkins – Assistant Secretary & Co-Chair of Education
James G. White – Treasurer & Chair of Finance
Executive Committee
Paula Brooks – Chair of Environmental & Climate Justice
Amy Courtney – Chair of Communications, Press & Publicity
Sandra Parker – Chair of ACT-SO
Vickie Peterson – Chair of Health
Dr. Lionel T. Rush – Chair of Religious Affairs
Jerome Stanford – Chair of Labor
Maurice Scott – Chair of Legal Redress
Dr. Regina Turner Barclay – Co-Chair of Education
Carol Tyler – Chair of Armed Services & Veterans Affairs
Annette Johnson
Ira Mai Steele
Homer Smith
NAACP Strategy Refresh: C-HOPE
Innovation and growth require nimble strategies. After more than a decade, we are sunsetting the "game changers" to embrace a bold new vision for our next chapter.
With a focus on innovation and impact, we are launching C-HOPE, our new Centers of Innovation:
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Center for Health Equity;
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Center for Opportunity, Race, and Justice;
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Center for Education Innovation; and
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Center for Environmental and Climate Justice.
Each Center brings together NAACP experts: issue-area leads, policy, lobbyists, communications, researchers, and state advocates to implement our ambitious goals.
Read more about each Center, our advocacy model, and how this will guide the NAACP's work moving forward - NAACP Strategy Refresh 2022-2027.
Branch History
The Indianapolis Chapter of the NAACP began shortly after the inception of the national organization. The black citizens of Indianapolis recognized the need for a local organization to help them achieve equality and gain access to rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States. Its early meetings were informal and held wherever space was available. As the organization grew some of its locations were: Indiana Avenue, 111 E. 34th St., 4155 Boulevard Place. The Indianapolis branch is currently located at 300 E. Fall Creek Parkway.
In 1912, Mary Cable organized the Indianapolis branch of the NAACP. At that time she was the president of the Colored Women's Civic Club. She then also became Indiana's first NAACP president. All of the other officers and members of the board of the branch were also women. After thirteen months the women asked the men of the black community to take over because, as the women put it, the men had more time.
The Constitution for the Indianapolis Branch of the NAACP was approved by the Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on May 24, 1913. The officers at that time were: Mary Cable - President, Cucinda Hayden - 1st Vice President, Beulah Porter - 2nd Vice President, Ella Clay - Secretary, Cora Willis -Treasurer.
By the 1920s the Indianapolis Branch grew in membership and took the lead in Indiana in resisting the growing threats of segregation. It took on the Ku Klux Klan to stop lynchings, and end its control over city and state education, housing, and employment practices. The NAACP responded to the Klan's influence in politics by organizing the Independent Voter's League to enlist black voters to support Democrats. An ordinance led by the White Peoples Protective League was enacted to further promote housing discrimination. The Indianapolis Branch opposed this bill and received support for the national organization. In 1926, the bill was ruled unconstitutional. This was a victory for the local branch and the black citizens of Indianapolis. The prestige and power of the Klan was shattered in most of the larger cities in Indiana.
The Indianapolis Branch sued in the early 1920s to prevent the creation of a separate high school for African Americans. Its efforts were unsuccessful and Crispus Attucks High School was built in 1927. Black students from all over Indianapolis were sent to this high school. The faculty of black educators was exceptional and the school became a symbol of pride for the black community.
Many members and leaders of the Indianapolis branch have been hard working, dedicated people, many who demonstrated extraordinary courage. Such as black attorneys Robert Lee Brokenburr, Freeman Ransom, and Robert Lee Bailey, who engaged in a hard struggle at a time when victories were few, and long before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
In the 1930s membership in the Indianapolis Branch declined, but was revived in the 1940s. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the branch fought to end segregation in all of Indianapolis' public schools. While they advocated two-way busing, NAACP members considered it a victory when in 1981 U.S. District Judge Hugh Dillon ordered the one-way busing of 6,000 inner-city students to six township schools in Marion County.
In 1966, NAACP members met with Mayor John Barton to discuss police brutality and discriminatory policies of the police department. This resulted in the upgrading of Captain Spurgeon Davenport as the first black Inspector in the history of Indianapolis Police Department.
In 1993, the branch threatened a lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools to prevent it from implementing a Select Schools plan. The plan, later accepted by Judge Dillon, allows parents to choose from a group of schools. The branch also hosted the NAACP National Convention during this year.
Thorough out its history, the Indianapolis branch has continued to fight for civil rights, particularly in the areas of job and housing discrimination. The NAACP also has sought to empower people through the ballot box. It has vigorously helped in registering voters and encouraging the community to vote on Election Day. Like all other branches across the country, it is governed by a constitution issued by the national NAACP office in Baltimore. All major decisions must be cleared through the national office and there can be no action such as boycotts, strikes, lawsuits, etc., without the approval of headquarters. The local branch is comprised of several committees. A new administration is elected every two years.