STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

This Day in Black History: July 11, 1905

W.E.B. Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement.

Responding to the frustration felt by some African-American activists and intellectual elites over what they viewed to be a policy of appeasement adopted by Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington when dealing with whites, then-Atlanta University professor W.E.B. Du Bois, on July 11, 1905, founded the Niagara Movement to aggressively petition for civil rights for African-Americans. Joined by journalist William Monroe Trotter, Du Bois gathered a group of more than 50 African-American men on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, after which the movement was named. They were forced to cross the border after a white hotel proprietor refused them lodging. The movement developed a Declaration of Principles that served as a manifesto for its fight for "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," Du Bois explained in a speech that day. The group disbanded in 1911 because of limited resources and clashes over its agenda, leading Du Bois to later co-found the NAACP.

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.