
Who helped found the NAACP and the Niagara Movement was?
W.E.B. Du Bois. (1868-1963) Was an African American scholar and reformer who helped found the Niagara Movement and the NAACP. Du Bois believed that African Americans could make gains in society through activism and protest, and he supported efforts to unite African Americans to fight discrimination and policy.
Who formed the NAACP?
the naacp was founded on february 12, 1909 by a diverse group composed of w.e.b. du bois, ida b. wells, archibald grimké, henry moscowitz, mary white ovington, oswald garrison villard, william english walling (the last son of a former slave-holding family), florence kelley, a social reformer and friend of du bois, and charles edward russell, a …
Who initiated the Niagara Movement?
The Niagara Movement was a civil rights group organized by W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter in 1905. After being denied admittance to hotels in Buffalo, New York, the group of twenty-nine business owners, teachers, and clergy who comprised the initial meeting gathered at Niagara Falls, Ontario (Canada) from which the group’s name derives.
Who was the leader or the Niagara Movement?
Niagara Movement, (1905–10), organization of black intellectuals that was led by W.E.B. Du Bois and called for full political, civil, and social rights for African Americans. This stance stood in notable contrast to the accommodation philosophy proposed by Booker T. Washington in the Atlanta Compromise of 1895. The Niagara Movement was the forerunner of the National Association for the ...

Who was the leader of the Niagara Movement?
The Niagara Movement ( NM) was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists – many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States – led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter.
What did the Niagara Movement want?
This resulted in "virtual slavery". The Niagara Movement wanted all African Americans in the South to have the ability to "earn a decent living".
What was the NAACP conference?
Held in New York City in early 1909, the conference laid the foundation for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was formally established in 1910. In 1911, Du Bois (who was appointed the NAACP's director of publications) recommended that the remaining membership of the Niagara Movement support the NAACP's activities. William Monroe Trotter attended the 1909 conference, but did not join the NAACP; he instead led other small activist civil rights organizations and continued to publish the Guardian until his death in 1934.
Why was the Niagara Movement named after the Niagara Falls?
The Niagara Movement was organized to oppose racial segregation and disenfranchisement.
What was proposed in 1906?
In 1906 there were several proposals floated in the black press that the Movement be merged with other organizations. None of these proposals got off the ground, with the only substance being a meeting between the Movement's Washington, DC chapter and members of the Bookerite National Afro-American Council.
When did the movement meet in Boston?
When the Movement met in Boston in 1907 Du Bois not only admitted Grimké and Miller to the organization, he reappointed Morgan to a leading position in the organization. Further attempts to heal the rift failed, and Trotter then resigned from the Movement.
What was the impact of the Reconstruction Era on African Americans?
During the Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War, African Americans had an unprecedented level of civil freedom and civic participation. In the South, for the first time the former slaves could vote, hold public office, and contract for their labor.
What was the Niagara Movement?
Niagara Movement, (1905–10), organization of black intellectualsthat was led by W.E.B. Du Boisand called for full political, civil, and social rights for African Americans. This stance stood in notable contrast to the accommodation philosophy proposed by Booker T. Washingtonin the Atlanta Compromiseof 1895. The Niagara Movement was the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In the summer of 1905, 29 prominent African Americans, including Du Bois, met secretly in Fort Erie, Ontario, near Niagara Falls, and drew up a manifestocalling for full civil liberties, abolition of racial discrimination, and recognition of human brotherhood. Subsequent annual meetings were held in such symbolic locations as Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Boston’s Faneuil Hall.
When did the Niagara Movement disband?
After the Springfield (Illinois) Race Riot of 1908, however, white liberals joined with the nucleus of Niagara “militants” and founded the NAACP the following year. The Niagara Movement disbanded in 1910, with the leadership of Du Bois forming the main continuity between the two organizations.
Where did Du Bois meet?
In the summer of 1905, 29 prominent African Americans, including Du Bois, met secretly in Fort Erie, Ontario, near Niagara Falls, and drew up a manifesto calling for full civil liberties, abolition of racial discrimination, and recognition of human brotherhood.
Why was the Niagara Movement so important?
The Niagara Movement forcefully demanded equal economic and educational opportunity as well as the vote for black men and women .
How did the Niagara Movement impact the entire country?
Members of the Niagara Movement sent a powerful message to the entire country through their condemnation of racial discrimination and their call for an end to segregation. While the movement had grown to include to 170 members in 34 states by 1906, it also encountered difficulties.
What were the principles of the Niagara Movement?
The principles behind the Niagara Movement were largely in opposition to Booker T. Washington ’s philosophy of Accommodationism . Trotter, editor of the Boston Guardian, had publicly reprimanded Washington at a Boston, Massachusetts meeting in 1903. In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Du Bois had also condemned Washington for his lowered ...
Who supported the inclusion of women in the Niagara Movement?
W.E.B. Du Bois supported the inclusion of women in the Niagara Movement, William Monroe Trotter did not. Trotter left the movement in 1908 to start his own group, the Negro-American Political League. The Niagara Movement met annually until 1908. In that year a major race riot broke out in Springfield, Illinois .
Where did the group of twenty-nine business owners gather?
After being denied admittance to hotels in Buffalo, New York, the group of twenty-nine business owners, teachers, and clergy who comprised the initial meeting gathered at Niagara Falls, On tario (Canada) from which the group’s name derives.
When did the Niagara Movement start?
Thirteen months later, from August 15-19, 1906, the Niagara Movement held its first public meeting in the United States on the campus of Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Where did the Niagarites meet?
Twenty nine men met at the Erie Beach Hotel in Ontario from July 11-14, 1905. The Niagarites adopted a constitution and by-laws, established committees and wrote a "Declaration of Principles," outlining the future for African Americans.
What was the outlook for full civil rights for African Americans at the dawn of the twentieth century?
At the dawn of the twentieth century, the outlook for full civil rights for African Americans was at a precarious crossroads. Failed Reconstruction and the Supreme Court's separate but equal doctrine (Plessy v. Ferguson), coupled with Booker T. Washington's accommodationist policies, threatened to compromise any hope for full and equal rights under the law.
What was John Brown's Day?
A highlight for those gathered was John Brown's Day. It was a day devoted to honoring the memory of John Brown. At 6 a.m. a silent pilgrimage began to John Brown's Fort. The members removed their shoes and socks as they tread upon the "hallowed ground" where the fort stood.
Where did Du Bois meet?
Du Bois gathered a group of men representing every region of the country except the West. They hoped to meet in Buffalo, New York. When refused accommodation, the members migrated across the border to Canada. Twenty nine men met at the Erie Beach Hotel in Ontario from July 11-14, 1905.
Where was the Niagara Movement held?
At the second meeting of the Niagara Movement, held at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, in 1906, Du Bois made it clear in his address that their goals were distinct from Washington’s limited vocationalism:
What was the name of the group that organized the Niagara Movement?
In mid-July 1905 Du Bois went to Buffalo. He had difficulty arranging hotel reservations, so he crossed to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Fearing reprisals by Washington, who had sent spies to Buffalo, the radicals kept their conference secret. On July 11 – 14, 1905, twenty-nine men met and formed a group they called the Niagara Movement, both for the conference location and for the "mighty current" of protest they wished to unleash. Du Bois was named general secretary, and the group split into various committees, of which the most important was Trotter's Press and Public Opinion Committee. The founders agreed to divide the work among state chapters, which would "cooperate with congressmen and legislators to secure just legislation for the colored people," and pursue educational and informational programs. Movement members would meet annually.
What did Du Bois and Trotter do in 1905?
In February 1905 Du Bois and Trotter devised a plan for a "strategy board" that would fight for civil rights and serve as a counterpoint to Washington's ideas. Since they knew Washington was most popular among whites, they resolved to form an all-black organization. Along with two allies, F. L. McGhee and C. E. Bentley, they scheduled a meeting for that summer in western New York, to which they invited fifty-nine businessmen and professionals who were known to be anti-Washingtonites.
Why was the Niagara movement moved to Fort Erie?
Thirty black intellectuals and professionals attended the first meeting, which was moved to Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, because the Buffalo hotel refused to accommodate blacks. A "Declaration of Principles, " composed at the first meeting, affirmed that "the voice of protest of ten million Americans must never cease to assail the ears of their fellows, so long as America is unjust." The Niagara movement was officially incorporated in January 1906. It would survive until 1910, publishing thousands of pamphlets that, along with the tightening Jim Crow regime in the South, undermined Washington's primacy and established DuBois's approach as the dominant civil rights philosophy for decades to come.
Who was the leader of the Niagara Movement?
NIAGARA MOVEMENT, a short-lived but influential civil rights group primarily organized by W. E. B. DuBois. The founding of the Niagara movement in 1905 marked DuBois's definitive split with Booker T. Washington, principal of the black Tuskegee Institute and considered by many the leader of black America. While Washington advocated gradual economic advancement at the expense of political rights for African Americans, DuBois agitated for total racial equality. After they quarreled repeatedly in 1904, DuBois called like-minded activists to a meeting in Buffalo, New York, to create a new organization dedicated to "Negro freedom and growth" and open dialogue, both withering attacks on Washington.
Who kept Washington informed of the meeting?
Indeed, allegedly during the 1905 meeting itself, one participant, the attorney Clifford Plummer, secretly kept Washington informed of its details. It was later alleged that other Washington allies persuaded white-owned newspapers to not cover the conference.
Why did the NAACP march in 1917?
In 1917, some 10,000 people in New York City participated in an NAACP-organized silent march to protest lynchings and other violence against Black people. The march was one of the first mass demonstrations in America against racial violence.
What was the NAACP's role in the Civil Rights Movement?
The NAACP played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. One of the organization’s key victories was the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed segregation in public schools.
What issues did the NAACP face?
Today, the NAACP is focused on such issues as inequality in jobs, education, health care and the criminal justice system, as well as protecting voting rights.
What did the NAACP do in 1964?
During this era, the NAACP also successfully lobbied for the passage of landmark legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, barring racial discrimination in voting.
Why was the NAACP criticized?
At the same time, NAACP members were subject to harassment and violence.
What did the NAACP promise?
In its charter, the NAACP promised to champion equal rights and eliminate racial prejudice, and to “advance the interest of colored citizens” in regard to voting rights, legal justice and educational and employment opportunities.
What was the NAACP's role in the 1963 March on Washington?
history, and had a hand in running 1964’s Mississippi Freedom Summer, an initiative to register Black Mississippians to vote.

Overview
Activities
After the initial meeting, delegates returned to their home territories to establish local chapters. By mid-September 1905, they had established chapters in 21 states, and the organization had 170 members by year's end. Du Bois founded a magazine, The Moon, in an attempt to establish an official mouthpiece for the organization. Due to lack of funding, it failed after a few months of publication…
Background
During the Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War, African Americans had an unprecedented level of civil freedom and civic participation. In the South, for the first time the former slaves could vote, hold public office, and contract for their labor. With the end of Reconstruction in the 1870s, their freedoms began to narrow. From 1890 to 1908, all the Southern states ratified …
Founding
Along with Du Bois and Trotter, Fredrick McGhee of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Charles Edwin Bentley of Chicago had also recognized the need for a national activist group. The foursome organized a conference to be held July 11–13, 1905, in Buffalo, New York. 59 carefully selected anti-Bookerites were invited to attend; 29 showed up, including prominent community leaders and a notable n…
End of the Movement
William Monroe Trotter's departure after the 1907 meeting had a serious negative impact on the organization, as did disagreements about which party to support in the 1908 election. Du Bois, with some reluctance, endorsed Democratic Party candidate William Jennings Bryan, but many African-Americans could not bring themselves to break from the Republicans, and William Howard Taft won the election, receiving significant African-American support. The 1908 annual meeting, …
Legacy
In the wake of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908, a major race riot in Springfield, Illinois, a number of prominent white civil rights activists called for a major conference on race relations. Held in New York City in early 1909, the conference laid the foundation for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was formally established in 1910. In 1911, Du Bois (who was appointed the NAACP's director of publications) recommended that the remainin…
See also
• Nadir of American race relations
Further reading
• Capeci, Dominic J., and Jack C. Knight. 1999. "W.E.B. Du Bois's Southern Front: Georgia" Race Men" and the Niagara Movement, 1905-1907." Georgia Historical Quarterly 83.3 (1999): 479-507 online.
• Forth, Christopher E. (1987). "Booker T. Washington and the 1905 Niagara Movement Conference". The Journal of Negro History. 72 (3–4): 45–56. doi:10.2307/3031507. JSTOR 3031507. S2CID 150352156.