<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial organization to advance justice for African Americans by W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington and Moorfield Storey . </P> <P> Its mission in the 21st century is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race - based discrimination ." Their national initiatives included political lobbying, publicity efforts, and litigation strategies developed by their legal team . The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct, the status of black foreign refugees, and questions of economic development . Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, uses the once common term colored people, referring to people of some African ancestry . </P>

Who started the naacp and what was their purpose