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Printed by: Alexandra Delgado
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Civil War and Reconstruction: Two Groups, Rights for All
Article
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NIAGARA FALLS, New York (Achieve3000, July 20, 2011). Not long
ago, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People), marked a century of working to protect civil rights for all
Americans. At the same time, Americans stopped to remember the
Niagara Movement, a forerunner of the NAACP. The Niagara
Movement was a civil rights group that protested segregation laws and
racial injustice.
In the early 1900s, African Americans enjoyed few equal rights in the
United States. Many African-American activists sought to change this.
Booker T. Washington was perhaps the best-known activist of the time.
Washington promoted a belief that advocated the temporary tolerance of
injustices such as discrimination, segregation laws, and the absence of
voting rights, with the belief that civil rights and equal treatment would
be won in gradual steps. These steps would be taken as African
Americans acquired more education and vocational skills. African
Americans should resist the urge to forcefully demand social and
political equality, Washington taught, in favor of patience.
Photo credit: AP File
Civil rights activists W.E.B. Du Bois
helped to start two important civil
rights organizations.
Meanwhile, other prominent African-American civil rights activists, such as scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, grew frustrated with
Washington's thinking. They considered it overly compliant. In 1905, Du Bois assembled a group of prominent African
Americans for a conference to discuss the establishment of a bold organization dedicated to fighting more forcefully for
civil rights.
A group of 29 activists planned to meet at Niagara Falls in New York. The group included educators, business owners, and
religious leaders. However, typical of the discrimination faced by African Americans at the time, the men were turned
away by racist hotel owners. The group ultimately met on the Canadian side of the falls. There, they were granted
accommodations. Du Bois called this group the Niagara Movement. The name was a reference to the site of the
organization's original meeting place and the group's intention to launch equal rights protests with a force like the power of
Niagara Falls. By 1906, the organization had grown to include 170 members across more than 30 states.
The Niagara Movement aggressively fought for civil rights and protested segregation laws in the U.S. At one meeting, Du
Bois articulated the group's primary objectives: "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....The battle we wage is
not for ourselves alone but for all true Americans."
The Niagara Movement remained active until 1910. By this time, many people from the group had joined the NAACP, an
organization that had formed a year earlier in response to the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. During the riot, the homes of
more than 40 African Americans were burned, and at least six people were killed.
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Civil War and Reconstruction: Two Groups, Rights for All
On February 12, 1909, many members of the Niagara Movement joined with a larger group. This group, which included
both African Americans and whites, was called the NAACP. (W.E.B. Du Bois, the founder of the Niagara Movement,
became a founder of the new organization as well.) An early focus of the civil rights group was to stop the lynchings that
killed hundreds of African Americans each year. (At that time in U.S. history, hundreds of African Americans each year
were the victims of lynchings. These were murders of people accused of crimes before they went on trial.) The NAACP
conducted anti-lynching campaigns and promoted anti-lynching laws. The reduction in the number of killings that
followed is credited to the NAACP.
The NAACP believed that legal action and nonviolent protests were the best ways to ensure equal rights for all Americans.
In 1917, the NAACP won its first Supreme Court case. The Court issued a unanimous ruling that states could not segregate
people into residential districts based on race.
In the 100-plus years of its existence, the NAACP has won numerous legal cases. The group has demanded liberty and
justice not only for African Americans but for everyone. Today, the NAACP has more than 500,000 members and
continues its pursuit of an America free of racial injustice.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Dig Deeper
In 1905, when W.E.B. Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement, many African Americans felt the need for more organized
action. It had been 40 years since the end of the Civil War, and the cause of civil rights was not moving forward. In fact,
many people believed it was moving backward.
Immediately after the Civil War, some lawmakers had advanced legislation designed to expand rights for African
Americans. But in the decades that followed, the tide turned. In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson
that separate facilities for whites and African Americans were allowed, as long as those facilities were "equal." This ruling
not only said that racial segregation was acceptable, but it ignored the fact that facilities for African Americans were rarely
equal in quality to those designated for white people. In addition, many states took steps to limit rights for African
Americans, including the right to vote. Discrimination against African Americans occurred openly—in businesses, in
neighborhoods, and in courtrooms. To make matters worse, acts of violence against black people went unpunished.
In this atmosphere, civil rights leaders emerged, eager to change attitudes. But these leaders did not agree on the best way
to do this. As you read in "Two Groups, Rights for All," Booker T. Washington advocated for patience. He accepted
segregation, as long as African Americans had economic opportunities and access to education. W.E.B. Du Bois believed
that this was not enough.
Du Bois' vision of a more assertive civil rights organization led to the founding of the Niagara Movement. When activists
met in Canada in 1905, they wrote a "Declaration of Principles," in which they outlined their vision for the future in regard
to education, voting rights, economic opportunities, and more. One year later, the Niagara Movement held its first public
meeting in the United States. The group chose to hold its meeting in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where abolitionist John
Brown led a rebellion in 1859. Brown later became a symbol of freedom for many African Americans.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the attendees heard "An Address to the Country," written by Du Bois. It stated, in part:
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Civil War and Reconstruction: Two Groups, Rights for All
We 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.
The members of the Niagara Movement resolved to work toward equality and justice. They had laid the groundwork for
the modern civil rights movement.
Dictionary
aggressively (adverb)
articulate (verb)
in a manner that is forceful and determined
to express thoughts, feelings, or ideas
compliant (adjective)
offering no resistance
segregation laws (noun)
group
tolerance (noun)
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laws that legalize the separation of and discrimination against one ethnic, racial, or religious
acceptance of different views
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