The Niagara Movement was a significant early 20th-century civil rights organization founded in 1905 in the United States. It was established by a group of African American intellectuals and activists, including W.E.B. Du Bois, William Monroe Trotter, and others, who advocated for civil rights and the pursuit of higher education for African Americans.
The movement arose in response to the limitations placed on African Americans by the Jim Crow laws and the prevailing attitudes of racial segregation and discrimination. It emphasized the importance of political action, civil rights, and the need for a strong, educated Black leadership. The Niagara Movement called for equal rights, an end to racial discrimination, and full access to education and employment for African Americans.
One of the notable aspects of the Niagara Movement was its open opposition to the accommodationist policies of Booker T. Washington, who advocated for gradual progress through vocational training rather than immediate civil rights. The Niagara Movement was significant in laying the groundwork for later civil rights organizations, most notably the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was founded in part by former members of the Niagara Movement in 1909.
The movement held its first conference at Niagara Falls, hence its name, and while it was relatively short-lived, its ideals and goals had a lasting impact on the civil rights movement in the United States.