NAACP Boston

In 2019, NAACP Boston was listed as one of the co-organizers for the Boston Women’s March along with the Boston Women’s Fund, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.  ³

Background

NAACP Boston is the local branch for the national civil rights organization NAACP. NAACP Boston has supported left-of-center policies related to racial equity, advocated defunding the Boston Police Department by at least 15%, and called for racism to be declared a public health and safety emergency. ¹

NAACP Boston was founded in February 1912, and became the first chartered branch of the national NAACP organization. The group previously advocated for desegregation within Boston school and housing as well as within the Boston Police Department and the local fire department.  ⁴

Activities

According to its website, NAACP Boston advocates for an “inclusive culture of health and equitable social health systems,” an “inclusive economy,” and “racial equity and justice.” ¹

Additionally, NAACP Boston has previously worked with union-affiliated and legal organizations such as  the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts, Lawyers for Civil Rights, and NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, ADL-New England, Greater Boston Legal Services, and the Innocence Project.  ⁵

On its website, NAACP Boston has an “equity report card” to assess economic development, education, public safety, and staffing diversity. ⁶

The organization holds monthly meetings among members, where topics discussed included voting rights, racial equity, and criminal justice policies. ⁴

NAACP Boston was also listed as a co-founder of the 2019 Boston Women’s March and part of a “coalition of intersectional feminist organizations” opposing “the systems of supremacy which oppress us.” Other organizers of the Boston Women’s March included the Boston Women’s Fund, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, the Massachusetts state affiliate of the major-pro-abortion advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America). ³

As of September 2025, NAACP Boston claimed to have 1,298 members ¹

People

Royal Smith is the president of NAACP Boston. Smith is the owner of Urban Food and Beverages and District 7 Tavern and a co-founder of the Boston Black Hospitality Coalition. Smith is the director of operations and co-chairs the ACT-SO Committee for the NAACP Boston. He is a member of Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts Paul Robeson Institute. ^{7  8 7}

The Vice Presidents of NAACP Boston are Rufus Faulk and Johnny McInnis. ⁷