Harpers Ferry and the Niagara Movement

".... we talked some of the plainest English that had been
given voice to by black men in America."

These words by Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois described the 1906 Niagara Conference held in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Strong sentiments expressed by an outspoken leader, yet all but forgotten, or worse, never known. The historic meeting of the Niagara Movement in 1906 has, through the years, been overshadowed by later, perhaps, more successful Civil Rights movements.

In August, 1906, forty-five members of the Niagara Movement, an early Civil Rights organization, met on the campus of Storer College, in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. This meeting was monumentally and symbolically important since this was their first meeting on American soil. The first meeting of the Niagara Movement, organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, was held in July, 1905, at the Erie Beach Hotel in Ft. Erie, Ontario, Canada. Racial prejudice forced Du Bois to move the meeting to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls when accommodation was refused the group in Buffalo, New York. Harpers Ferry had been carefully selected as the location for the second meeting because of its connection to John Brown and his 1859 raid to free the 4 million slaves held in bondage in this country. In fact the meeting was promoted as "the 100th anniversary of John Brown's birth, and the 50th jubilee of the battle of Ossawatomie." (Brown was actually born in 1800, making this the 106th anniversary of his birth.) The connection to the martyred Brown was powerful indeed; but it was not the only connection to African American history -- Harpers Ferry was also home to Storer College. Storer had been opened in 1867 by the Freewill Baptist as a mission school educating former slaves. For twenty-five years Storer was the only school in West Virginia that offered African Americans an education beyond the primary level. In the ensuing years Storer expanded in acreage, curriculum, and enrollment. In 1906 it provided the backdrop for this historic conference.

Convening on August fifteenth, these forty-five men undoubtedly carried strong hopes that their voices would be heard and action would result. Many of the Niagrites, as they were called, were drawn to this organization by common goals and desires. They had tired of Booker T. Washington's theory of "accommodation" and sought to actively seek equality for their race.

It is interesting to note that women attended this conference, but were not officially recognized as members until the third annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts. One of the women in attendance, Mary White Ovington, a reporter, covered the meeting for the New York Evening Post. Ms. Ovington had long admired Dr. Du Bois before finally meeting him in 1904. They communicated often and she had suggested that Du Bois invite her to the conference. Ms. Ovington wrote of the participants, "Their power and intellectual ability is manifest on hearing or talking with them." Her interest in the organization and its cause did not end at Harpers Ferry. In 1909 Ms. Ovington became co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Speeches, meetings and special addresses filled the week at Storer; a highlight for the participants, men and women, was John Brown's Day, August 17 – a day devoted to honoring the memory of John Brown. A light rain fell as Owen Waller, a physician from Brooklyn, New York, led a silent pilgrimage to the Murphy Farm, site of John Brown's fort. The Niagrites, numbering one hundred strong, removed their shoes and socks before treading this hallowed ground. A prayer and stirring remarks were offered by Richard T. Greener, former dean of the Howard University Law School. Then single-file the assemblage marched around the fort singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "John Brown's Body". This inspirational morning was followed by an equally stirring afternoon as presentations and speeches were given by Henrietta Leary Evans, whose brother and nephew had fought with Brown at Harpers Ferry; Lewis Douglass, son of Frederick Douglass; W.E.B. DuBois, and Reverdy C. Ransom, pastor of the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston. Ransom's address was described by many as a masterpiece and according to Benjamin Quarles in Allies for Freedom "was the most stirring single episode in the short life of the Niagara Movement."

The second annual conference of the Niagara Movement concluded with an "Address to the Country." Penned by Du Bois this document was a five-point resolution demanding:

1. We want full manhood suffrage, and we want it now, henceforth and forever.
2. We want discrimination in public accommodation to cease. Separation ... is un-american, undemocratic and silly.
3. We claim the right of freemen to walk, talk and be with them who wish to be with us.
4. We want the laws enforced...against white as well as black.
5. We want our children educated ...either the U.S. will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the U. S.

The address also stated, "We will not be satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full manhood rights. 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. The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone but for all true Americans." With thunderous applause the Harpers Ferry conference drew to a close. Years later recalling this conference DuBois referred to it as..."one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held."

The Niagara Movement continued until 1911 at which time various factors contributed to its demise. In 1911 Du Bois wrote to his colleagues advising them to join the new National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Niagara, as an organization, ceased to exist, but its principles and ideals that evolved during its years continued to gain momentum into the 21st century as part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Women's Colored League visit John Brown's Fort at the Murphy Farm in 1896 (click on to enlarge)

In 1895 the John Brown Fort was rebuilt on the Murphy Farm following a brief stay in Chicago as part of the World's Columbian Exposition. The fort stayed in this location from 1895 until 1909 when it was moved to the campus of Storer College (link). While at the Murphy Farm several prominent groups visited the building to pay homage to it's historical association with John Brown. In 1896 the Colored Women's League, led by Mary Church Terrell visited the site and in 1906 Civil Rights activist, W.E.B. DuBois, and the 100 members of the 1906 Niagara Movement conference made a pilgrimage to the fort. There they respectfully removed their shoes and socks before treading upon this hallowed ground.