National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior

PO Box 65
Harpers Ferry WV 25425

304 535-6748 phone
304 535-6244 fax

Harpers Ferry NHP News Release

Release Date: Immediately
Contact: Marsha B. Wassel 304 535-6748
Contact: Pamela Holstein-Wallace 304-283-7536

America Celebrated the Niagara Movement: The Cornerstone of the Modern Civil Rights Era

(Harpers Ferry, West Virginia)--Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the Jefferson County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Harpers Ferry Historical Association, and the West Virginia Division of Tourism will host a press conference on Friday, February 3 at 10:30 a.m. at the Mather Training Center in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to kick off the Niagara Movement Centennial Celebration. Guest speaker at the press conference will be Mr. John Johnson, Chief Director of Programs, NAACP. In the event of inclement weather, the snow date and location will be February 10 at the Curtis Freewill Baptist Church in the park.

In August 1906, 46 members of the Niagara Movement, the first national civil rights organization in America, met on the campus of Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. This meeting was monumentally and symbolically important—it was their first meeting in the United States. The founding meeting in July 1905 was held at the Erie Beach Hotel in Ft. Erie, Ontario, Canada. The group had been refused accommodations in Buffalo, New York, so W.E.B. DuBois, the Movement’s leader, moved the meeting to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Harpers Ferry had been carefully selected as the location for the second meeting because of its connection to John Brown and his raid to free slaves in 1859. 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 this birth.) The connection to the martyred Brown was powerful indeed, but 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 25 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.

The second annual conference of the Niagara Movement concluded with an “Address to the Country.” Penned by DuBois, this document was a five-point resolution demanding basic civil 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.

The Niagara Movement continued until 1911, at which time various factors contributed to its demise. In 1911, DuBois 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 it laid the cornerstone for the modern civil rights era as the principles and ideals that evolved during its years continued to gain momentum into the 21st century as part of the NAACP.

The Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the Harpers Ferry Historical Association, the West Virginia Division of Tourism and the Jefferson County NAACP are sponsoring the Centennial Commemoration. For more information contact Todd Bolton at (304) 535-6026 or George Rutherford at (304) 725-9610.

-NPS-

Updated: Thursday, 16-Mar-2006 09:21:32 Eastern Daylight Time
www.nps.gov /archive/hafe/new/nr-niagara.htm
Author: Marsha B. Wassel

Back to Previous Page