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At the dawn of the 20th century, black Americans were facing increasingly precarious
circumstances. Throughout the South, state legislatures were effectively stripping black
men of their civil and voting rights. A legal system of Jim Crow racial segregation had
taken root. And, blacks were increasingly confronting the ropes and pyres of white lynch
mobs. Correctly sensing the mood of whites, both North and South, and of many blacks,
Booker T. Washington advanced a program that he believed would enable the two races
to exist in peace and prosperity. Washington suggested that blacks should cease
struggling for integration and political advancement, and instead focus on becoming
economically self-sufficient.
Although Washington stood as the preeminent voice in black America, some blacks
dismissed Washington’s program of accommodation—arguing that it would do more to
harm the race than it would do to uplift it. W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter
(editor of Boston’s radical race paper the Guardian) were among the most outspoken
critics of Washington and his robust Tuskegee Machine. In 1905, Du Bois and Trotter
organized a meeting of militant black intellectuals and professionals at the Niagara
Falls. From this meeting emerged a movement that—while short-lived—would have an
indelible impact on the pitch and paths of black protest throughout the 20th century.
This meeting gave life to the NIAGARA MOVEMENT.
The 29 original members of the Niagara Movement approached the contemporary
struggles of black America with a far more militant bent than did Washington and his
followers. Rather than entreating their black countrymen to patiently endure their
present oppression in the hope that a change would come, the men of the Niagara
Movement demanded that all forms of racial discrimination end immediately. They
issued a “Declaration of Principles” which asserted that, “We refuse to allow the
impression to remain that the Negro-American assents to inferiority, is submissive under
oppression and apologetic before insults…. [T]he voice of protest of ten million [black]
Americans must never cease to assail the ears of their fellows, so long as America is
unjust.”
Despite the fact that Washington used his influence to compel most publishers of black
newspapers to ignore the movement, the membership of the movement grew. And, after
some debate, women and a few whites were permitted to become full members of the
movement. In commemoration of the 100th birthday of John Brown, the Niagara
Movement held its second meeting at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. Out of this 1906
gathering emerged an “Address to the Country” which further distinguished the Niagara
Movement from policies of conciliation. The address declared that the members of the
Niagara Movement “will not be satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full
manhood rights. We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn
American, political, civil and social; and until we get these rights we will never cease to
protest and assail the ears of America. The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone but
for all true Americans. It is a fight for ideals, lest this, our common fatherland, false to its
founding, become in truth the land of the thief and the home of the slave—a by-word and
a hissing among the nations for its sounding pretensions and pitiful accomplishment.”
The members of the Niagara Movement continued to meet for three years following the
Harper’s Ferry conference. However, internal conflicts, financial instability, and harsh
opposition from Washingtonian factions prompted the early demise of the movement.
Nevertheless, Du Bois and other members would carry over the tradition of direct action
protest that the Niagara Movement initiated to its successor organization—the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Consciously and unconsciously,
black Americans continue to infuse the spirit of the Niagara Movement in their struggles
for racial justice.
by Korey Bowers Brown
circumstances. Throughout the South, state legislatures were effectively stripping black
men of their civil and voting rights. A legal system of Jim Crow racial segregation had
taken root. And, blacks were increasingly confronting the ropes and pyres of white lynch
mobs. Correctly sensing the mood of whites, both North and South, and of many blacks,
Booker T. Washington advanced a program that he believed would enable the two races
to exist in peace and prosperity. Washington suggested that blacks should cease
struggling for integration and political advancement, and instead focus on becoming
economically self-sufficient.
Although Washington stood as the preeminent voice in black America, some blacks
dismissed Washington’s program of accommodation—arguing that it would do more to
harm the race than it would do to uplift it. W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter
(editor of Boston’s radical race paper the Guardian) were among the most outspoken
critics of Washington and his robust Tuskegee Machine. In 1905, Du Bois and Trotter
organized a meeting of militant black intellectuals and professionals at the Niagara
Falls. From this meeting emerged a movement that—while short-lived—would have an
indelible impact on the pitch and paths of black protest throughout the 20th century.
This meeting gave life to the NIAGARA MOVEMENT.
The 29 original members of the Niagara Movement approached the contemporary
struggles of black America with a far more militant bent than did Washington and his
followers. Rather than entreating their black countrymen to patiently endure their
present oppression in the hope that a change would come, the men of the Niagara
Movement demanded that all forms of racial discrimination end immediately. They
issued a “Declaration of Principles” which asserted that, “We refuse to allow the
impression to remain that the Negro-American assents to inferiority, is submissive under
oppression and apologetic before insults…. [T]he voice of protest of ten million [black]
Americans must never cease to assail the ears of their fellows, so long as America is
unjust.”
Despite the fact that Washington used his influence to compel most publishers of black
newspapers to ignore the movement, the membership of the movement grew. And, after
some debate, women and a few whites were permitted to become full members of the
movement. In commemoration of the 100th birthday of John Brown, the Niagara
Movement held its second meeting at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. Out of this 1906
gathering emerged an “Address to the Country” which further distinguished the Niagara
Movement from policies of conciliation. The address declared that the members of the
Niagara Movement “will not be satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full
manhood rights. We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn
American, political, civil and social; and until we get these rights we will never cease to
protest and assail the ears of America. The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone but
for all true Americans. It is a fight for ideals, lest this, our common fatherland, false to its
founding, become in truth the land of the thief and the home of the slave—a by-word and
a hissing among the nations for its sounding pretensions and pitiful accomplishment.”
The members of the Niagara Movement continued to meet for three years following the
Harper’s Ferry conference. However, internal conflicts, financial instability, and harsh
opposition from Washingtonian factions prompted the early demise of the movement.
Nevertheless, Du Bois and other members would carry over the tradition of direct action
protest that the Niagara Movement initiated to its successor organization—the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Consciously and unconsciously,
black Americans continue to infuse the spirit of the Niagara Movement in their struggles
for racial justice.
by Korey Bowers Brown
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The Niagara Movement
Black Protest
Reborn
Reborn
Founders of Black History Month
| The 2005 Black History Theme: |