A group of Harvard students presented $950 to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) this weekend to help the association pay the costs of appealing a Mississippi lawsuit.

The NAACP lost the lawsuit last September when a Mississippi judge awarded $1.25 million to white merchants in Port Gibson, Miss. The merchants sued the NAACP for damages which occurred during a 1966 boycott protesting discrimination against blacks.

Gary W. Martin '79, president of the Black Students Association presented the check to the directors of the Boston chapter of the NAACP at Leverett House Saturday evening.

The students who raised the money were members of an ad hoc committee of the association, which was formed in October 1976 for the specific purpose of aiding the NAACP with the cost of the appeal.

"We were very pleased to see young people at Harvard take time off from their work to gather up the money with the kind of perseverance it must have taken," Edward Redd, executive secretary of the NAACP Boston office, said yesterday.

The committee received contributions from various student organizations, including the Harvard Democrats and the Harvard Hillel Society, as well as money raised through House collections, Michael Jones '79, a member of the committee, said yesterday.

"We had a little trouble because of the small number of people involved in raising the money, but even though we did not reach our goal of $20,000, I am very pleased," Jones said. --L.H.