Fighting the Machine: NAACP Institutional Responses to Police Brutality From Jim Crow to Early Civil Rights

This article examines the NAACP’s campaign against police brutality from 1937 to 1965, drawing on over 90 case files from the association’s national archives. Using a Critical Race Theory framework, it analyzes how the NAACP developed investigatory, judicial, and media tactics to counteract systematic racial abuse in the absence of state accountability. The study identifies a shift from reactive legalism to a more expansive activism model that blended evidence collection, public exposure, and community-driven narratives to challenge official impunity. Despite the 1945 Screws v. United States decision, which theoretically expanded federal authority, the Department of Justice consistently declined to pursue prosecution, forcing the NAACP to develop alternative accountability mechanisms. This multi-level organizational approach, shaped by tactical adaptation and bureaucratic learning, demonstrates the power of administrative infrastructure in sustaining civil rights work beyond landmark court cases. By focusing on how the NAACP treated police brutality as both a constitutional and epistemic crisis, the article illuminates broader implications for understanding organizational memory, movement strategy, and the ongoing struggle for racial justice in hostile legal environments.