![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/files\/2021\/12\/WEB-Dubois-210x300.jpg\")
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W.E.B. Du Bois gave the speech at the Niagra Movement in 1905 at Harpers Ferry.\u00a0It was a gathering of\u00a028\u00a0leaders of the\u00a0Civil\u00a0Rights movement, and their goal was to\u00a0argue for the end of discrimination and segregation and it outlined five demands\u00a0<\/span>((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, 2021).))<\/span>.\u00a0The speech was in response to\u00a0Booker T. Washington\u2019s speech at the Atlanta Exposition which became known as the Atlanta Compromise\u00a0<\/span>((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The\u00a0niagara\u00a0movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago.\u00a0Afro\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Americans<\/i> 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\u2019s 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:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> In the speech Du Bois made five demands. First he demanded\u00a0 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 \u201cour children be educated\u201d((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, 2021).))<\/span>.\u00a0Du Bois\u00a0stated\u00a0that, \u201cWe 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\u00a0America\u201d<\/span>((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, 2021).))<\/span>. He made appeals to all Americans, and according to\u00a0Robert Williams the location was important because \u201cIt was there that John Brown the abolitionist planned to strike both\u00a0symbolic\u00a0and\u00a0practical\u00a0blows against\u00a0slavery\u201d<\/span>((Williams, Robert W. 2010. Politics, rights, and spatiality in W.E.B. du\u00a0bois’s\u00a0“address to the country” Booker T. Washington was not supportive and tried to destroy their movement: \u201cFrom the day of its inception [Booker T.] Washington plotted the destruction of the Niagara Movement\u201d<\/span>((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The\u00a0niagara\u00a0movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago.\u00a0Afro\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Americans<\/i> <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" W.E.B. Du Bois gave the speech at the Niagra Movement in 1905 at Harpers Ferry.\u00a0It was a gathering of\u00a028\u00a0leaders of the\u00a0Civil\u00a0Rights movement, and their goal was to\u00a0argue for the end of discrimination and segregation and it outlined five demands\u00a0((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5205,"featured_media":977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"project_category":[8,19],"project_tag":[306,190,179],"class_list":["post-972","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-1900-1920","project_category-20th-century","project_tag-306","project_tag-civil-rights","project_tag-speech"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":981,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/972\/revisions\/981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=972"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nin\u00a0New York Life and History<\/i>\u00a032, (2) (07): 9-22,\u00a0https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly
\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0journals\/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago\/docview\/200838675\/se-2
\naccountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).\u00a0))<\/span>. The members of the Niagara Movement did not agree with Washington\u2019s stance of non-aggravation, and they met in Harpers Ferry to voice their case.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span> Making connections through the\u00a0<\/span>niagara<\/span>\u00a0movement.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Black History Bulletin<\/span><\/span>\u00a068, (1) (Winter):<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
<\/span> 12-17,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly-journals\/when-we-call-education-mean-real<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
<\/span> <\/a>making\/docview\/233500183\/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>)). In this tense climate, Du Bois and the other 28 leaders met in Harpers Ferry to make demands for their freedoms. Kyle Wolf, in \u201cThe Niagara Movement of 1905: A Look Back to a Century Ago\u201d,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>states that, \u201c<\/span>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.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The\u00a0niagara\u00a0movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago.\u00a0Afro\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Americans<\/i>
\nin\u00a0New York Life and History<\/i>\u00a032, (2) (07): 9-22,\u00a0https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly
\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0journals\/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago\/docview\/200838675\/se-2
\naccountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).\u00a0))<\/span>It was a tense time, and Du Bois and his partners were not afraid to meet and forcefully demand their rights.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n(1906).\u00a0Journal of African American Studies<\/i>\u00a014, (3) (09): 337-358,
\nhttps:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly-journals\/politics-rights-spatiality-w-e-b-du-boiss
\n<\/a>address\/docview\/744075230\/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).\u00a0))<\/span>.\u00a0Du 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, \u201cAnd this is the land that professes to follow Jesus\u00a0Christ\u201d<\/span>((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, 2021).))<\/span>. He also mentions \u201cthe stars\u201d twice in the speech, making his argument a righteous and\u00a0religious case. He is saying that this is a fight for the soul of Americans. In fighting for\u00a0education,\u00a0he says, \u201cEither the United States will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United\u00a0States\u201d<\/span>((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, 2021).))<\/span>. By making it about the entire country, he is trying to show that this fight is not just for African-Americans but for\u00a0every American.\u00a0He uses \u201cwe\u201d often to try to make this a common fight. He says, \u201cWe are men; we will be treated as\u00a0men\u201d<\/span>((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, 2021).))<\/span>.\u00a0He also makes a direct appeal to the young people in the nation \u201cwhose nostrils are not yet befouled by greed and snobbery and racial narrowness…\u201d<\/span>((W.E.B. Du Bois. \u201cNiagara Movement Speech\u201d. Speech, 1905. From Teaching American History. https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/niagara-movement-speech\/ (accessed December 10, 2021).))<\/span>. He is hoping to build allies for the cause.\u00a0At the time many states in the south pushed for\u00a0states\u00a0rights\u00a0as a way to\u00a0make discrimination lawful. According to\u00a0Williams, \u201c<\/span>In those many examples, the state\u2019s rights proponents argued that rights and interests were grounded in the communities of the state and should not be controlled or\u00a0\u2018attacked\u2019\u00a0by those from outside the states or from Washington, D.C. itself.\u201d<\/span>((Williams, Robert W. 2010. Politics, rights, and spatiality in W.E.B. du\u00a0bois’s\u00a0“address to the country”
\n(1906).\u00a0Journal of African American Studies<\/i>\u00a014, (3) (09): 337-358,
\nhttps:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly-journals\/politics-rights-spatiality-w-e-b-du-boiss
\n<\/a>address\/docview\/744075230\/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).\u00a0))<\/span>\u00a0Du\u00a0Bois\u2019s\u00a0strategy\u00a0of appealing to the nation\u00a0was designed to counteract the push for\u00a0states\u00a0rights 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\u00a0<\/span>((Williams, Robert W. 2010. Politics, rights, and spatiality in W.E.B. du\u00a0bois’s\u00a0“address to the country”
\n(1906).\u00a0Journal of African American Studies<\/i>\u00a014, (3) (09): 337-358,
\nhttps:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly-journals\/politics-rights-spatiality-w-e-b-du-boiss
\n<\/a>address\/docview\/744075230\/se-2?accountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).\u00a0))<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nin\u00a0New York Life and History<\/i>\u00a032, (2) (07): 9-22,\u00a0https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly
\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0journals\/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago\/docview\/200838675\/se-2
\naccountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).\u00a0))<\/span>.\u00a0According\u00a0to Wolf, Washington used spies and pressured black editors not to\u00a0publish\u00a0information on the movement.\u00a0The movement continued to meet every year, and in May 1910, they changed their name to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People\u00a0<\/span>((Wolf, Kyle D. 2008. The\u00a0niagara\u00a0movement of 1905: A look back to a century ago.\u00a0Afro\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Americans<\/i>
\nin\u00a0New York Life and History<\/i>\u00a032, (2) (07): 9-22,\u00a0https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/scholarly
\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0journals\/niagara-movement-1905-look-back-century-ago\/docview\/200838675\/se-2
\naccountid=13793 (accessed December 9, 2021).\u00a0))<\/span>. The NAACP is still with us today and\u00a0is responsible for\u00a0many of the advancements of civil rights over the last hundred years.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n