Members forge a better future each and every day for men, women and children. The history of the National Association for The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Monterey County involves the founding of two Branches of the NAACP – the Monterey Peninsula Branch and the Salinas Branch. The first of those two branches – the Monterey Peninsula Branch – was founded in 1932. Its primary founder was
the Reverend Wellington Smith, Sr. then the Pastor of First Baptist Church of Pacific Grove, the oldest Black church in the Central California Region. The Salinas Branch was formed seven years later in 1939. William Greenwell. In those early days, these two branches were responsible for bringing awareness to the fact that racism and racial discrimination in all their forms were rife, virulent and institutionally entrenched. In those early days, both branches under the leadership of these two bold Presidents led successful struggles that began to break down barriers for Blacks and other minorities in housing and employment. As well, both branches took strong stands against racist police practices directed toward Blacks and others that often culminated in taunts, threats, beatings and wrongful incarcerations. Leaders of both branches, especially these two Presidents, endured long periods of threats to their persons as well as the lives of their families, but they and the branches they led never faltered in their struggles to rid this county of its most abject forms of racism and discrimination. Both branches received numerous National NAACP awards for their outstanding work in fighting for equality in all aspects of society for all people, especially Blacks. For many decades, these two NAACP Branches were seen as the two foremost organizations that were consistently at the forefront of all struggles and movements to defend and extend the political, social and economic rights of all those who were the victims of injustice. In 2006, after much discussion and deliberations, the membership of both branches unanimously voted to merge the two branches into one Monterey County Branch of the NAACP. While each branch admirably served the interests of their two parts of Monterey County, over the years, the two branches began more and more to work in tandem to confront and resolve increasingly similar issues. In the minds of the members of both branches, it made more sense to have one large branch to carry out the mission and work of the NAACP for the entire county. In the estimation of many in this county, the Monterey County Branch of the NAACP is doing just that.
