Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

In 1940 the organization formerly known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and now called the NAACP launched the Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). Since its founding, the organization has been involved in more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any other nongovernmental organization.

The NAACP, which had been founded in 1909 to support CIVIL RIGHTS, soon found itself needing direction and aid as it sought to help people find their way through the criminal justice system. Under the leadership of future Supreme Court Justice THURGOOD MARSHALL, the LDF was created to provide information about the criminal justice system and legal assistance to indigent African Americans.

In 1957,...