Lillian Wald - Advocacy

Advocacy

Another of her concerns was the treatment of African-Americans. As a civil rights activist, Wald insisted that all Henry Street classes be racially integrated. She was one of the founders, in 1909, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The first major public conference to create the organization opened with a meeting at the Henry Street settlement.

An advocate for women's suffrage and for peace, Wald organized New York City campaigns for suffrage, marched to protest the United States’ entry into World War I, joined the Woman's Peace Party and helped establish the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1915 she was elected president of the newly formed American Union Against Militarism (AUAM) and after United States joined the war she remained involved with the AUAM's daughter organizations, the Foreign Policy Organization and the American Civil Liberties Union.