Page 102 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

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NAFZIGER, RALPH O. (1896-1973) was one of the pioneers in mass com-
munication research. While a faculty member at Minnesota in the 1940s, he
helped establish the Minnesota Poll, one of the early state opinion polls. During
World War II, he was part of the group of researchers who analyzed propaganda
for the Office of War Information.
He was coeditor of the first research methods book in mass communication,
Introduction to Journalism Research (1949) and of the second research methods
book in mass communication, Introduction to Mass Communications Research
(1958, 1963).
He received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from the University
of Wisconsin and returned there in 1949 as director of the School of Journalism,
a position he held until his retirement in 1966. He then served as executive
secretary for the Association for Education in Journalism for six years.
SOURCES: Harold L. Nelson, "Ralph Nafziger," Journalism Quarterly, Autumn 1973;
William David Sloan, Makers of the Media Mind, 1990.
Guido H. Stempel HI

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COL-
ORED PEOPLE (NAACP) is America's largest organization that fights dis-
crimination on the basis of race and color. The NAACP's rise to national
prominence hinged upon a single event: the Niagara Movement, a meeting at
which several leading African American men, including W.E.B. Du Bois, cre-
ated a plan to stamp out discrimination. Fueled with energy, this group attracted
the attention of white sympathizers, mostly from the media and among lawyers,
to aid in the cause. Du Bois was the organization's first director and also its
publicist, writing The Crisis to chronicle and bring attention to the NAACP's
fight against racial injustice. The NAACP's goal has been to seek, protect, and