Discussing Interest groups

According to Ginsberg et al., an interest group is "…an organized group of people that makes policy-related appeals to the government" (421)1. The interest groups discussed will be the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Christian Coalition (CC). Both of these interest groups are well known within the civil rights and religious movements. Interest groups have shown to be instrumental in many policies in place to protect many things of interest to the general public. This paper is going to introduce the role that both of these interest groups have played in policies, the organizational structure, and the strategies used to make a change now and in the past. I am also going to discuss the scale of their operations and whether they are what I expected. This paper will use themes, concepts, and vocabulary from the textbook to help visualize the interest groups thoroughly.  
Many different types of interest groups exist. Provided by CliffNotes, "There are 23,000 entries in the Encyclopedia of Associations, and a high percentage of them qualify as interest groups." 2 Interest groups are commonly utilized. These different groups range across a broad spectrum that is always evolving: economic interest groups, public interest groups, government interest groups, civil rights interest groups, ideological interest groups. And single-issue interest groups. All of these interest group categories provide support for individuals who identify as one of these categories. In many cases, these interest groups have supported people in the court setting due to strong beliefs.  
According to the NAACP, their Legislative Agenda is to ensure a society in which all citizens have equal rights without discrimination based on race.3 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's mission is to "…ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination." 4 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded in 1909 by a group of individuals, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, and Moorfield Storey. These individuals envisioned a better world that included blacks and other ethnicities as equals in America. Since 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has fought many civil liberty cases for many ethnicities. The strategies used to address the civil liberty issues are taking the matter to court and fighting for the rights. They have also marched and protested many issues through other forms, such as academic lectures, books, articles, and etcetera. One of the most famous cases that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People successfully conquered was Brown vs. Board of Education. This case was a triumph and changed the set history from a former case. Plessy v. Ferguson, which ruled racially segregated public facilities were legal, so the facilities for blacks and whites were equal, also known as separate but equal.5 The NAACP focuses on a large scale; they have different chapters in different cities to help with civil liberty concerns nation-wide. Since I am a member of one of the public groups the NAACP supports, I feel inspired by their interest group actions. Without the NAACP actions, I would not be able to thrive in school or walk down a street with minimal fear. The NAACP provides support for centuries to come.  
The Christian Coalition is an interest group with a religious agenda. Founded in 1989, the Christian Coalition is an organization with a mission to present, speak out, train, inform and protest the public for anti-Christian bigotry and defend the rights of people of faith. The Christian Coalition functions on a national scale with several chapters in different cities. The organization of the Christian Coalition is leaders throughout the nation advocating their mission. The strategy that the Christian Coalition follows is representing the issues they care about in politics. They serve many problems, including the Free Speech and the Christian Coalition Case in 1999.6 Cases like this are not relatable for me due to the fake that I am not a Christian. However, I believe these actions that the Christian Coalition has made influence everyone's' experience with free speech. I did not see any legislative agenda other than being pro-family, meaning they promote the idea of family life and traditional moral values.  
In conclusion, both of these interest groups approach the general public with interest to support them with concerns they may not know how to handle. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Christian Coalition provides a support system that will last for many more years. This system helps to fight policies in place that may not be fair or equal. Interest groups have shown to be beneficial because they promote democracy, have real power to make a change, offer a positive solution, and provides support for those who may not generally have support. Interest groups have affected my destiny by dismantling segregation and by allowing religious entities they right to their freedom of speech. Without these interest groups, many nation concerns would still exist.  
 
References 
Christian Coalition editors. (2018, November 15). Welcome to the Christian Coalition. Retrieved from Help build the Coalition: http://www.cc.org/help_build_coalition 
Cliff Notes editor. (n.d., n.d. n.d.). Cliff Notes. Retrieved from Types of Interest Groups: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/american-government/interest-groups/types-of-interest-groups 
Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., & Spitzer, R. J. (2017). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 
Heidi, M., & B, J. (1999, October 1). The Federalist Society. Retrieved from Free Speech and the Christian Coalition Case: https://fedsoc.org/commentary/publications/free-speech-and-the-christian-coalition-case 
History editor. (2018, November 15). History. Retrieved from Brown v. Board of Education: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka 
NAACP editor. (2018, November 15). NAACP. Retrieved from Welcome: https://www.naacp.org/