Teamsters Local 667
Memphis Strong — carrying the legacy of 1968
Powering · Labor Education
NAACP Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee and national — three doors into the same fight. The oldest civil rights organization in the country has been in the room with organized labor at every turning point in this city, and its Memphis branch is led today by a man who came out of a union local.
Who leads it
Kermit Moore
President, NAACP Memphis Branch
Since July 2023
A union man before he was a branch president: chief steward of United Paperworkers Local 1766 at Cleo Inc., president of the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute, and an executive board member of the Memphis & West Tennessee AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.
naacpmemphis.org
Gloria Jean Sweet-Love
President, NAACP Tennessee State Conference
Elected 1995
A Diamond Life member of the Haywood County Branch. Under her leadership the State Conference opened a staffed office and has taken the national Thalheimer Award for outstanding programs every year since 2010.
tnnaacp.org
Derrick Johnson
19th President & Chief Executive Officer
Since October 2017
Leads the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization from the national office in Baltimore. Leon W. Russell chairs the national board of directors.
naacp.orgThree doors, one association
NAACP
- Founded February 1909 — the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization
- More than 2,200 units: branches, youth councils and college chapters
- National office, Baltimore, Maryland
The Memphis Branch officers
The elected leadership of the branch at 588 Vance Ave.
Kermit Moore
Deidre Malone
Gale Jones Carson
James E. Jones III
LaGina Scott
Bemar Roberts
Vickie Terry
2026 Freedom Fund Celebration
Saturday, October 3 · 11:00 a.m. · Reign Event Venue, 3243 Players Club Circle, Memphis, TN 38125
The branch's major annual fundraiser, carrying the local programs the NAACP runs in Memphis. This year's guest speaker is Kristen Clarke, National General Counsel of the NAACP. Sponsorships, tables and tickets are listed on the branch site — confirm the current date and details with the branch before you buy.
The voice at the Freedom Awards Dinner
Dr. Rhonda Shaw · Station Manager, WOJG 94.7 FM · Host, Doctor2Doctor — In the Chatroom
Dr. Shaw hosted the Freedom Awards Dinner at the Tennessee State Conference's 80th Annual State Convention and Civil Rights Advocacy Conference in Memphis, where Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley, president and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women, delivered the address. She manages her family's stations — WOJG 94.7 FM and WBOL AM 1560 out of Bolivar, the only Black-owned 6-kilowatt signal in Tennessee, reaching 14 counties of West Tennessee and North Mississippi. Her father, station co-owner Rep. Johnny Shaw, has been an NAACP member for decades.
Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley
President & Chief Executive Officer, National Council of Negro Women · Founding Principal & CEO, R.E.A.C.H. Beyond Solutions
More than two decades of leadership across healthcare, diversity, equity, inclusion, government affairs and executive strategy — a respected voice at the intersection of public health and social justice. She served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor and Director of External Engagement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the 19th U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy. Before that federal appointment she held key leadership roles at NAACP national headquarters, serving as Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Partnerships and previously as Chief of Staff — which is to say the woman at the podium came out of this association.
A native of southern New Jersey, she holds a bachelor's in exercise science and a Master of Public Health from Tulane University, and earned her Master of Divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, where she was ordained as a minister. She is a devoted wife to Andrew Bradley and a mother of two.
In Memphis, civil rights and union rights have never been separate fights
A lynching brought the charter here
NAACP field secretary James Weldon Johnson came to Memphis to investigate the lynching of Ell Persons. He met Robert R. Church Jr., and the Memphis Branch charter was written. By 1919 it was the largest branch in the South, and Church became the first Southerner elected to the national board — he went on to help establish 68 branches in 14 states.
The strike was a civil rights and labor operation at the same time
When 1,300 sanitation workers walked out on February 12, 1968 after Echol Cole and Robert Walker were crushed in a garbage truck, AFSCME Local 1733 and T.O. Jones did not stand alone. Maxine Smith, the Memphis Branch executive secretary, sat on the strike's coordinating committee and turned the branch into a mobilizing machine — boycotts, marches, mass meetings. Branch treasurer Jesse Turner helped hold it together. The city recognized the union on April 16, 1968.
Memphis sent the NAACP its executive director
Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks of Memphis led the national NAACP from 1977 to 1993. In those years the Legal Defense Fund used the Voting Rights Act to dismantle at-large election schemes that diluted Black votes — between 1969 and 1990 the number of Black elected officials went from 1,200 to 7,000.
The branch president carries a union card
Kermit Moore came up as chief steward of United Paperworkers Local 1766, led the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute, and sits on the executive board of the Memphis & West Tennessee AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. When labor and the NAACP talk in this city, it is not two strangers negotiating.
The Memphis Branch keeps paid staff — few branches do
Executive directors of the Memphis Branch have included:
NAACP units across Tennessee
Branches we can verify from each unit's own site or published reporting. Officers rotate and units are chartered and re-chartered, so the State Conference office in Jackson is the authority for the current roster — call 731-660-5580 or email info@tnnaacp.org before you publish anything off this list.
Memphis Branch
Shelby CountyPresident Kermit Moore · 1st VP Deidre Malone · 2nd VP Gale Jones Carson · 3rd VP James E. Jones III · Secretary LaGina Scott · Treasurer Bemar Roberts · Executive Director Vickie Terry
Chartered June 1917 — the first NAACP branch in Tennessee and the fourth in the South.
Visit the branch siteKnoxville-Knox County Branch
Knox County · Unit 5596Knoxville, TN
Membership applications use unit number 5596.
Visit the branch siteChattanooga-Hamilton County Branch
Hamilton CountyPresident Rev. Ann J. Pierre
601 M.L.K. Blvd., Chattanooga, TN 37404
Leadership as reported by the Chattanoogan, October 2025.
Clarksville-Montgomery County Branch
Montgomery CountyJackson-Madison County Branch
Madison CountyJackson, TN
Same city as the Tennessee State Conference office.
Visit the branch siteOak Ridge-Anderson County Branch
Anderson CountyPresident Annette Flynn
P.O. Box 6165, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
General meetings the fourth Tuesday of the month — call ahead to confirm the location.
Bolivar-Hardeman County Branch
Hardeman CountySt. Paul CME Church, 808 Pruitt St., Bolivar, TN 38008
Membership meetings the fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m.; executive committee the third Thursday.
Fayette County-Somerville Branch
Fayette CountyPresident Elton Holmes
Somerville, TN
Won a redistricting fight over the Fayette County Commission with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Haywood County-Brownsville Branch
Haywood County · Unit 5984Brownsville, TN 38012
The home branch of State Conference President Gloria J. Sweet-Love, a Diamond Life member here.
Maury County Branch
Maury CountyColumbia, TN
Listed by the Tennessee State Conference — contact the state office for current officers.
Dyersburg Branch
Dyer CountyDyersburg, TN
Listed by the Tennessee State Conference — contact the state office for current officers.
College chapters
Youth councils
Every state conference in the country
The NAACP runs more than 2,200 local units. State conferences provide the leadership for the branches, youth councils and college chapters underneath them — start here and the conference will point you to the unit nearest you. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, as published by the NAACP.
51 conferences shown
Alabama
NAACP Alabama State Conference
P.O. Box 866, Athens, AL 35612
Alaska
NAACP Alaska Oregon Washington State-Area Conference
P.O. Box 4144, Renton, WA 98057
Arkansas
NAACP Arkansas State Conference
2020 West 3rd Street, Suite 219, Little Rock, AR 72202
California
NAACP California Hawaii State Conference
1215 K Street, Suite 609, Sacramento, CA 95814
Connecticut
NAACP Connecticut
2074 Park Street, 2nd Floor, Hartford, CT 06106
Delaware
NAACP Delaware State Conference
P.O. Box 986, Georgetown, DE 19947
District of Columbia
NAACP Washington DC Branch
1000 U Street NW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20001
Georgia
Georgia NAACP State Conference
100 Edgewood Ave. SE, Suite 1610, Atlanta, GA 30303
Idaho
NAACP Tri-State Conference of Idaho-Nevada-Utah
P.O. Box 26622, Salt Lake City, UT 84126
Illinois
NAACP Illinois State Conference
P.O. Box 20384, Springfield, IL 62708
Indiana
NAACP Indiana State Conference
P.O. Box 64715, Gary, IN 46401
Iowa
NAACP Iowa Nebraska State Conference
1620 Pleasant Street, Suite 210, Des Moines, IA 50314
Louisiana
NAACP Louisiana State Conference
3313 Government Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Maine
NAACP New England Area Conference
P.O. Box 320128, West Roxbury, MA 02132
Maryland
NAACP Maryland State Conference
P.O. Box 9702, Arnold, MD 21012
Massachusetts
NAACP New England Area Conference
P.O. Box 320128, West Roxbury, MA 02132
Minnesota
Minnesota NAACP
P.O. Box 6472, Rochester, MN 55903
Mississippi
NAACP Mississippi State Conference
1072 W. Lynch Street, Suite 10, Jackson, MS 39203
Nebraska
NAACP Iowa Nebraska State Conference
1620 Pleasant Street, Suite 210, Des Moines, IA 50314
Nevada
NAACP Tri-State Conference of Idaho-Nevada-Utah
P.O. Box 26622, Salt Lake City, UT 84126
New Hampshire
NAACP New England Area Conference
P.O. Box 320128, West Roxbury, MA 02132
New Jersey
NAACP New Jersey State Conference
4326 Harbor Beach Blvd. #775, Brigantine, NJ 08203
New Mexico
NAACP New Mexico State Conference
North Dakota
Minnesota NAACP
P.O. Box 6472, Rochester, MN 55903
Oregon
NAACP Alaska Oregon Washington State-Area Conference
P.O. Box 4144, Renton, WA 98057
Rhode Island
NAACP New England Area Conference
P.O. Box 320128, West Roxbury, MA 02132
South Dakota
Minnesota NAACP
P.O. Box 6472, Rochester, MN 55903
Texas
NAACP Texas State Conference
6633 Highway 290 East, Suite 303, Austin, TX 78723
Utah
NAACP Tri-State Conference of Idaho-Nevada-Utah
P.O. Box 26622, Salt Lake City, UT 84126
Vermont
NAACP New England Area Conference
P.O. Box 320128, West Roxbury, MA 02132
Washington
NAACP Alaska Oregon Washington State-Area Conference
P.O. Box 4144, Renton, WA 98057
West Virginia
NAACP West Virginia State Conference
Contact the national office for the current mailing address
Sources: naacp.org, naacp.org/state-conferences, tnnaacp.org, naacpmemphis.org and each unit's own site; 1968 strike detail from the AFSCME and King Institute chronologies. Officers and contacts change — verify with the unit or the Tennessee State Conference before printing or publishing. Listed here as a community partner of Labor Education; nothing on this page is an NAACP endorsement of the Council or of this site.
