A few months after the 1908 Springfield race riot, a small group of New York City activists vowed that if such racial terror could strike in the town Abraham Lincoln called home, it could happen anywhere.

After a year, the group that included Mary White Ovington, Dr. Henry Moskowitz and William English Walling began its work against discrimination that continues to this day. In 1910, backed by black church leaders, the group took the formal name, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Soon, branches popped up across the nation, including in Illinois.

"About that time, statewide recruiting exploded," said Jack Muirhead, a member of the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project.

Greg Koos, executive director of the McLean County Museum of History, agreed that it's not clear which Illinois branch started first.

"There were a bunch that started about the same time, and many claim to be the first," Muirhead said.

But Mike Williams, president of the Twin City branch of the NAACP, is confident the November 1918 charter held by the Bloomington branch was the first in the state. The group marks its 90th anniversary this fall. Calls to the national organization to clarify the issue were not returned.

Though founded by a multiracial group in 1909, the NAACP's main focus was to right the wrongs blacks were facing at that time, said local member Ron Swan of Normal.

"Though there are bigots out there today, in 1908, there were a whole lot. The raw hatred of African-Americans at that time, throughout the nation," was such that the Springfield riot occurred, said Swan, who is Illinois State University's police chief.

"I don't think white people really understand what it was like for us - when you couldn't get a cup of coffee or a sandwich, except as 'to go' orders," said Caribel Washington, an elder with the Bloomington branch. "You had to sit in the right place at the picture show. Doctors wouldn't treat you, dentists wouldn't treat you."

"You had to know what was available. Something like the NAACP, that's its purpose," she said, adding that climate continued in the Twin Cities until the 1960s. Older chapter members like Washington, Merlin Kennedy and Henry Gay have shared stories of the turbulent times, and the NAACP's backbone through the years.

"It's been that one bulwark for the African-American community for so long," said Washington, who turned 4 the year the Bloomington NAACP formed and began meeting at the Wayman AME church.

In the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, black churches were a central source of community for blacks, said Muirhead, providing a regional network to stay connected. That continues to this day, said Williams, noting the local group still meets at the same AME church.

The Bloomington branch started with at least 50 members to have obtained the charter. Today, it counts more than 350 members. With a substantial mix of whites, blacks, Asians, Latinos and Indians among its membership, Williams said the Twin City branch reflects the original, multiracial background of the NAACP's founders.

The work, he said, is never done.

"The NAACP played a major role during the Civil Rights movement. But we still need to make inroads," said Williams.

Today, the group has built relationships throughout the community, which makes a difference when addressing issues, he said.

"The pendulum is shifting in the right direction. But of course, we want that to continue. Not only do we need to embrace diversity. We need to retain human and civil rights. … We need to continue to advocate. For 100 years that's been our mission."

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Birth of NAACP

Sept. 3, 1908: William English Walling's article "Race War in the North" is published in The Independent, detailing the horrors of the Aug. 14-16 Springfield race riot.

1909: After reading Walling's report, Mary White Ovington, a white suffragette, and activist Dr. Henry Moskowitz, a Jewish social worker, meet with Walling in New York City. The group reaches out to New York's black church ministers and others, calling for formation of a group to fight discrimination, and strive for civil liberty.

May 1910: The multi-racial group holds its first conference, and officially becomes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

1918: Bloomington, the city that kept black prisoners Joe James and George Richardson safe from Springfield rioters, becomes the first NAACP branch chartered in Illinois.

2008: Today, more than 500,000 people are members of the NAACP. In Bloomington, the NAACP branch reflects the association's multiracial origins, with whites, blacks, Asians, Latinos and Indians among its members.

SOURCES: NAACP national Web site; Mike Williams, president NAACP, Bloomington branch.