NAACP: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
Joseph Surcy Reed

Joseph Surcy Reed received paralegal certification from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. through its Legal Assistant Program, was a Dean’s List student as an undergraduate at Hampton University in Virginia, and is pursuing a Masters degree in communications from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Joseph was honored with a Community Service Award as well as a Peer Helper Award. A member if the Pre-Law Club, he was a volunteer for the March of Dimes and Walk America. Joseph worked as a paralegal at Update Legal(a law-related temporary service) in Washington, D.C. where he created trial notebooks, used Lotus Notes, and assisted attorneys. He was an intern at Prince George’s State’s Attorney’s Office in Upper Marlboro where he conducted legal research, created spreadsheets, and contacted possible witnesses about depositions. Joseph was also a paralegal at Hudson Legal in Washington, D.C. where he produced, managed, and reviewed legal documents. He was a case manager at Boies, Schiller & Flexner in Washington, D.C.; a paralegal for the Special Counsel in D.C. (another temporary legal placement service), and was a paralegal at Advantage Human Resources. Joseph belonged to the National Black Public Relations Society, the Public Relations Society of America, the Greater Washington Urban League, and the NAACP where he requested an internship after applying on May 8, 2006 for a summer placement that would continue through the fall/winter semester. In a little over two weeks the Washington Internship Program placed Joseph at the National Association of Colored People where he worked from May through January. In the spring of 2007, Joseph is interested in a second internship at the Brookings Institution.

Led by Martin Luther King, Jr. during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was the organization most responsible for ending segregation in America. During the internship, Joe attended Congressional hearings and mark-ups on various bills that the NAACP supported or opposed, and then he wrote reports on the testimony he heard. For example, Joe attended debates on proposed Senate legislation that would require all U.S. citizens to present driver’s licenses, passports, or birth certificates in order to vote. In opposition to this bill, Joe prepared materials explaining why such a law would be bad for America. Joe also conducted research on the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, sponsored by John Conyers (Michigan Democrat), to reduce incidents of police brutality. This bill was written in 2000 but has since been bogged down in the Judiciary committee – in part due to lobbying by the Fraternal Order of Police. Joe also created executive summaries and talking points to be used by the director of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau.
            In September, Joseph represented the NAACP at a conference of the Congressional Black Caucus that was held in the Washington Convention Center. At this event, Joe manned the NAACP booth, signed up new members, answered questions about the organization, and distributed legislative report cards that the NAACP created to grade all congressional representatives and senators on the basis of their voting records. Joe heard Senator Barack Obama (Illinois Democrat) speak on challenges facing African-Americans and U.S. legislators in this century. The NAACP paid for Joseph to stay at the Convention Center throughout the three-day conference.   

Back to Sample internships main page