Niagara’s Declaration of Principles (text page 17 of brochure 1)

Possible Introduction

The document under scrutiny in an excerpt from the Niagara’s Declaration of Principles. It is a primary
source which was produced in 1905 and was extracted from the Yale archives. It lays out the
foundational precepts of the emerging Niagara Movement. At a moment when the constitutionality
of racial segregation was confirmed by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Fergusson and when racial
violence kept on uncreasing, a group of African-American activists, including W.E.B. Du Bois, decided
to break away from what they perceived as compromising attitudes and to create a new civil rights
organization. They met near the Niagara Falls and came up with a public plateform defining common
goals. What are these common ideas and how do the members of the Niagara Movement try to
convince African-Americans to take a more proactive stance in fighting against segregation ? In order
to answer these questions, we will see that first they denounce the paradox between progress and
the reality of segregation. Then, they clearly advocate for the need to actively protest segregation,
and doing so, they move away from more accomodationist positions.

Possible Outline :

1. Denouncing the paradox between progress for African-Americans and the reality of
segregation in the early 20th Century United States
2. Advocating for Actively Protesting and Fighting for Equality and Civil Rights
3. Taking a stance against accomodationism