For more than 70 years, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has challenged policies and practices like those at issue in Mount Holly that deny African Americans housing opportunity and isolate African-American communities. In its litigation and advocacy, LDF has also played an instrumental role in advancing the doctrine of disparate impact discrimination, beginning with its landmark victory in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971). Since the 1970s, this method of proving discrimination by focusing on the harmful effects on minority communities has been recognized by courts in a variety of civil rights cases, including those addressing employment discrimination, unequal educational opportunities, and environmental racism.
Founded in 1940, LDF is the leading legal organization fighting for racial justice in America. LDF has been a separate entity from the NAACP since 1957. Therefore, if the organization’s name needs to be shortened, please refer to it as “NAACP Legal Defense Fund” or “Legal Defense Fund” rather than simply “NAACP.”
