BALTIMORE, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The NAACP will begin a yearlong celebration this week of its 100th anniversary, the U.S. civil rights group said.

The organization, with headquarters in Baltimore, was formed by a multiracial group of activists in 1909 as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It was formed Feb. 12, 1909, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birthday.


Its centennial comes less than a month after the nation's first black president, Barack Obama, was inaugurated, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted Sunday.

"The dear Lord plans all things. All I know it's great this is the 100th anniversary of the NAACP and one of those colored people is the head of our country," said civil rights activist Alma Fox of Stanton Heights, Pa.

NAACP chapters in more than 1,200 communities will begin a yearlong celebration Thursday of the milestone anniversary. The organization said it would recommit to its mission to "ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."

NAACP President Ben Jealous said in a statement that while the group has made great progress during the past 100 years, "our journey remains unfinished."