Niagara Movement

A photo illustration of some of the attendees at the first Niagara Conference. Top row, left to right: H.A. Thompson, New York; Alonzo F. Herndon, Georgia; John Hope, Georgia, (possibly James R.L. Diggs). Second row, left to right: Fred McGhee, Minnesota; Norris B. Herndon;[1] J. Max Barber, Illinois; W.E.B. Du Bois, Atlanta; Robert Bonner, Massachusetts, (bottom row: left to right) Henry L. Baily, Washington, D.C.; Clement G. Morgan, Massachusetts; W.H.H. Hart, Washington, D.C.; and B.S. Smith, Kansas.[2][3] (1905 silver gelatin print.)

The Niagara Movement (NM)[2] was a 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. The Niagara Movement was organized to oppose racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Its members felt "unmanly" the policy of accommodation and conciliation, without voting rights, promoted by Booker T. Washington. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and took Niagara Falls as its symbol. The group did not meet in Niagara Falls, New York, but planned its first conference for nearby Buffalo (at the last minute, to avoid disruptions, moved across the Niagara River to Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada).[when?] The Niagara Movement was the immediate predecessor of the NAACP.

  1. ^ Nielsen, Euell A. (March 9, 2016). "Norris B. Herndon (1897-1977)". BlackPast.org. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  2. ^ a b ""Niagara Movement Digital Archive", W. E. B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Retrieved February 24, 2021". Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  3. ^ ""Niagara Movement:Selected Sources in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library", July 2012, page 1. Retrieved February 28, 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2020.