Founders of the Niagara Movement
In July 1905 W.E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter convened a conference of black leaders to renounce Booker T. Washington’s accommodationism. They met at Niagara Falls, in Ontario, Canada, because hotels on the American side of the falls barred blacks. The twenty-nine men in attendance set forth a platform that demanded freedom of speech and criticism; a free press; manhood suffrage; abolition of all caste distinctions based on race or color; recognition of the principle of human brotherhood; belief in the dignity of labor; and a united effort to realize these ideals under wise and courageous leadership. The organization they formed, the Niagara Movement, met annually at the following locations—Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (1906); Boston, Massachusetts (1907); Oberlin, Ohio (1908); and Sea Isle City, N.J. (1909), until it disbanded in 1910 because of internal dissension and lack of funds.
In July 1905 W.E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter convened a conference of black leaders to renounce Booker T. Washington’s accommodationism. They met at Niagara Falls, in Ontario, Canada, because hotels on the American side of the falls barred blacks. The twenty-nine men in attendance set forth a platform that demanded freedom of speech and criticism; a free press; manhood suffrage; abolition of all caste distinctions based on race or color; recognition of the principle of human brotherhood; belief in the dignity of labor; and a united effort to realize these ideals under wise and courageous leadership. The organization they formed, the Niagara Movement, met annually at the following locations—Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (1906); Boston, Massachusetts (1907); Oberlin, Ohio (1908); and Sea Isle City, N.J. (1909), until it disbanded in 1910 because of internal dissension and lack of funds.