Final answer:
The NAACP used the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech and association to fight against racial discrimination, as seen in court victories such as National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama and the strategic framing of the Buchanan v. Warley case based on property rights. These strategic uses of constitutional amendments were pivotal in the NAACP's legal strategy to undermine segregationist laws.
Step-by-step explanation:
The NAACP used various strategies under the First Amendment to fight racial discrimination. They leaned on the freedom of speech and freedom of association tenets to advocate for civil rights. For instance, in National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama, the Supreme Court recognized the freedom to associate with organizations like the NAACP as part of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This legal victory allowed the NAACP to continue their activism without state interference.
In another strategic move, the NAACP engaged in a clever legal tactic during the case of Buchanan v. Warley in 1917. They presented the argument based on property rights, rather than directly confronting the racial implications of a Louisville segregation law, resulting in the Supreme Court ruling that the law was an unconstitutional abridgement of property rights. This case is an example of how the NAACP utilized constitutional principles to undermine segregationist legislation.
The overall strategy of the NAACP was to challenge segregation and inequality using legal avenues afforded by the Constitution, often employing the First Amendment's protection of speech and association, coupled with Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment arguments, to strike down discriminatory laws and practices.