Founded in 1896, the year of the Supreme Court's “equal, but separate” decision, NACW was the first national organization of black women. It united middle-class associations in a strong body.

NACW pursued activism and service. Its 5,000 members in 1897, representing 14 states and the District of Columbia, espoused moral behavior and race uplift. If their motto “Lifting as We Climb” implicated elitism, they prioritized the race's most vulnerable – the uneducated, poor, and suffering – while pursuing civil rights and social justice. Uplifting was a duty regardless of literacy, gender, or class. NACW local affiliates funded, among other initiatives, kindergartens, literary clubs, orphanages, and homes for elders. Many supported the antilynching, women's suffrage, and “Don't Buy Where You Can't Work” campaigns. Membership totaled 100,000 by 1924 but declined considerably during the Great Depression and after the National Council of Negro women formed in 1935 (www.blackpast.org/aah/national-council-negro-women-1935).