W.E.B. Du Bois gave the speech at the Niagra Movement in 1905 at Harpers Ferry. It was a gathering of 28 leaders of the Civil Rights movement, and their goal was to argue for the end of discrimination and segregation and it outlined five demands ((W.E.B. Du Bois. “Niagara Movement Speech”. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/niagara-movement-speech/ (accessed December 10, 2021).)). The speech was in response to Booker T. Washington’s speech at the Atlanta Exposition which became known as the Atlanta Compromise ((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The niagara movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago. Afro – Americans
in New York Life and History 32, (2) (07): 9-22, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly
        journals/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago/docview/200838675/se-2
accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). )). The members of the Niagara Movement did not agree with Washington’s stance of non-aggravation, and they met in Harpers Ferry to voice their case. 

At the time of the speech, discrimination and race crimes were widespread throughout the United States. The United States had just finished the Spanish-American war, and the war had boosted the country’s confidence and pushed the country into imperialism. According to the textbook, hundreds of African-Americans were being lynched each year in the south. Blacks were not allowed to serve on juries. Roosevelt hosted Booker T. Washington in the White House, but the backlash was so severe, that he never invited a black leader to the White House again((Thoms, John W., and Priscilla Aquino. 2006. When we call for education, we mean real education: 
Making connections through the niagara movement. Black History Bulletin 68, (1) (Winter): 
12-17, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/when-we-call-education-mean-real 
making/docview/233500183/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). )). In this tense climate, Du Bois and the other 28 leaders met in Harpers Ferry to make demands for their freedoms. Kyle Wolf, in “The Niagara Movement of 1905: A Look Back to a Century Ago”, states that, “With these travesties taking place in America, coupled with black leadership like Washington who did not publicly speak out against lynching, it is of no wonder why these twenty-nine African Americans, disgusted, organized in Niagara Falls to take action.” ((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The niagara movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago. Afro – Americans
in New York Life and History 32, (2) (07): 9-22, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly
        journals/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago/docview/200838675/se-2
accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). ))It was a tense time, and Du Bois and his partners were not afraid to meet and forcefully demand their rights.  

In the speech Du Bois made five demands. First he demanded  the right to vote, second he demanded discrimination to end, third he demanded that all people be able to gather together, fourth he demanded that laws be enforced equally, and fifth he demanded that “our children be educated”((W.E.B. Du Bois. “Niagara Movement Speech”. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/niagara-movement-speech/ (accessed December 10, 2021).)). Du Bois stated that, “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”((W.E.B. Du Bois. “Niagara Movement Speech”. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/niagara-movement-speech/ (accessed December 10, 2021).)). He made appeals to all Americans, and according to Robert Williams the location was important because “It was there that John Brown the abolitionist planned to strike both symbolic and practical blows against slavery”((Williams, Robert W. 2010. Politics, rights, and spatiality in W.E.B. du bois’s “address to the country”
(1906). Journal of African American Studies 14, (3) (09): 337-358,
https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/politics-rights-spatiality-w-e-b-du-boiss
address/docview/744075230/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). )). Du Bois was trying to appeal to white people in the United States to use their vote to help create racial justice. He appealed to them by calling on their Christian principles when he said, “And this is the land that professes to follow Jesus Christ”((W.E.B. Du Bois. “Niagara Movement Speech”. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/niagara-movement-speech/ (accessed December 10, 2021).)). He also mentions “the stars” twice in the speech, making his argument a righteous and religious case. He is saying that this is a fight for the soul of Americans. In fighting for education, he says, “Either the United States will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States”((W.E.B. Du Bois. “Niagara Movement Speech”. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/niagara-movement-speech/ (accessed December 10, 2021).)). By making it about the entire country, he is trying to show that this fight is not just for African-Americans but for every American. He uses “we” often to try to make this a common fight. He says, “We are men; we will be treated as men”((W.E.B. Du Bois. “Niagara Movement Speech”. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/niagara-movement-speech/ (accessed December 10, 2021).)). He also makes a direct appeal to the young people in the nation “whose nostrils are not yet befouled by greed and snobbery and racial narrowness…”((W.E.B. Du Bois. “Niagara Movement Speech”. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/niagara-movement-speech/ (accessed December 10, 2021).)). He is hoping to build allies for the cause. At the time many states in the south pushed for states rights as a way to make discrimination lawful. According to Williams, “In those many examples, the state’s rights proponents argued that rights and interests were grounded in the communities of the state and should not be controlled or ‘attacked’ by those from outside the states or from Washington, D.C. itself.”((Williams, Robert W. 2010. Politics, rights, and spatiality in W.E.B. du bois’s “address to the country”
(1906). Journal of African American Studies 14, (3) (09): 337-358,
https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/politics-rights-spatiality-w-e-b-du-boiss
address/docview/744075230/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). )) Du Bois’s strategy of appealing to the nation was designed to counteract the push for states rights by those working against desegregation and equality. The Supreme Court had already ruled in the Dred Scott and Plessy cases that segregation was legal, so Du Bois was directing his speech at Congress and voters because at the time the legislative branch was Du Bois best hope for justice ((Williams, Robert W. 2010. Politics, rights, and spatiality in W.E.B. du bois’s “address to the country”
(1906). Journal of African American Studies 14, (3) (09): 337-358,
https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/politics-rights-spatiality-w-e-b-du-boiss
address/docview/744075230/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). )). 

Booker T. Washington was not supportive and tried to destroy their movement: “From the day of its inception [Booker T.] Washington plotted the destruction of the Niagara Movement”((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The niagara movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago. Afro – Americans
in New York Life and History 32, (2) (07): 9-22, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly
        journals/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago/docview/200838675/se-2
accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). )). According to Wolf, Washington used spies and pressured black editors not to publish information on the movement. The movement continued to meet every year, and in May 1910, they changed their name to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The niagara movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago. Afro – Americans
in New York Life and History 32, (2) (07): 9-22, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly
        journals/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago/docview/200838675/se-2
accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021). )). The NAACP is still with us today and is responsible for many of the advancements of civil rights over the last hundred years.