National Action Network

The National Action Network is a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York City, New York, in early 1991. In a 2016 profile, Vanity Fair has called Sharpton "arguably the country's most influential civil rights leader."

The organization's Board of Directors is chaired by Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon. The Board of Directors has a tradition of including those most recognized in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, as it was first chaired by Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, Pastor Emeritus of Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, and former Executive Director to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to Dr. Walker, the late Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, supported the organization and her son, Martin Luther King, III, participates annually in the Keepers of the Dream Awards Dinner and National Convention.

National Action Network's Annual Convention draws more than 8,000 delegates and leaders from media, business, politics, entertainment and the civil rights from across the country. The 2007 convention featured six presidential candidates and was dubbed by the media as the "Sharpton Primary." In Barack Obama's speech during the 2007 convention he said that Rev. Al Sharpton was “The voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden.” In 2011 President Barack Obama delivered a keynote address at their convention, applauding NAN’s activism by saying: “National Action Network is not the National “Satisfaction” Network; it’s the National “Action” Network.”. National Action Network's convention in April of 2014 close to 7,000 people attended, making it the biggest in the history of the organization and the largest civil rights convening of the year in the nation. During the 2014 convention President Barack Obama returned to address over 1,200 convention attendees where he addressed voting rights and said "We’ve got to create a national network committed to taking action. We can call it the National Action Network."

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders spoke at the Silver Anniversary 2016 National Action Network Convention. "You stand up and always have against gun violence, advocate for criminal justice reform, help young people find jobs, hold corporations accountable, and in a million ways, lift up voices that often go unheard," Clinton said during her speech.

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