ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis has been home to a branch of the NAACP for more than a century.
While the organization has had a presence on many university campuses, it's launching it's first chapter at Washington University in St. Louis this year.
Precious Barry, a St. Louis-native who helped get the chapter up and running also currently attends Wash U, said when she originally got on campus, she wanted to find a sense of belonging.
"I remember asking myself 'how do I fit into an environment with people I haven't been accustomed to?' specifically coming from a provisionally black district" said Barry on Total Information A.M. Monday.
Barry's connection to the NAACP first began even before she stepped foot on Washington University, back when she was in high school.
"My senior year of high school, I remember in my college and career readiness class, I had the opportunity to do a project on what organization would we join at our future college and I was already a member of the St. Louis County NAACP youth branch," said Barry.
"I remember when I was doing my research on Wash U, I necessarily didn't see there was a NAACAP chapter, knowing Wash U was founded in 1853."
The chapter, housed under the African and African American Studies Department at Wash U, aims to get as many students as possible to register to vote, work to promote diversity, equity and inclusion on campus and create civically-minded leaders.