The Niagara Movement essays

The Niagara Movement essays In the very late 1800s Booker T. Washington believed that African-Americans should best gain equality to whites through establishing a solid labor force, and accommodating to the existing beliefs of the governments idea of segregation and inequality. In an effort to overcome Washingtons ideals, twenty-nine men including John Hope, Monroe Trotterand, and W.E.B. Dubois, whom believed that Washingtons doctrine was "born out of present reality", formed a group which they called the Niagara Movement. This movement was first organized on July 11 through 14, 1905 on the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls. The name originated from its first meeting as well as the thought of creating a mighty current of protest among the people. The movement served as a tool to help the African-American population at the time, to move forward and away from the suppression that they were being coated with by the racist white community. The ideals created by Washington would have not proven effective in the latter years opposed to those enforced by the leaders of the Niagara Movement. This submissive effort created by Washington to move on, would have left the African-American population subjected to more abuse, because it had been proven before by others in similar situations that passivity was not a route to take. It only led those who had tried to be thrown into jail, persecuted, beaten, or killed. The leaders of the Niagara Movement showed that it took force as well as determination to get what they wanted. The movement itself proved that just the effort of those 170 members opened the doors for many others to attempt the abolition of segregation along with the Jim Crow laws. Despite its impressive beginning, the Niagara Movement did not last too long, but it did leave a lasting impression on others. It sparked a chain reaction to a peaceful, yet defiant and strong movement, starting with occurrences such as Rosa ...