Black history month association recalls 100th anniversary of The Niagara Movement

Jet, Feb 7, 2005

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the founders of Black History Month, has chosen "Black Protest Reborn: The Niagara Movement" as its theme for 2005.

The Civil Rights Movement of the '50s and '60s had its origins in 1905 with the Niagara Movement, an organization of 29 Black men led by W.E.B. DuBois, who came together to find a way to end Jim Crow practices in America. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the movement.

"The Niagara Movement was an important turning point in the thought process that African Americans could have equal rights," explains Sylvia Cyrus-Albritton, executive director of ASALH.

"It was the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Most people think everything started in the '50s and '60s. We chose this as our theme because many people don't know how far back the struggle went before it took hold and yielded results," she notes. The Niagara Movement called for political, civil and social rights for Blacks.

In 1905, DuBois and 28 other Blacks met secretly at Niagara Falls to strategize for equality and the end of racial bias. The NAACP was formed a few years later.

In 1905, Blacks faced mob violence daily in America and lynchings were common.

The federal government looked away as Southern Whites stripped Black people of the right to vote and passed laws that segregated Virtually every phase of life.

Historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of ASALH, organized the first Negro History Week in 1926 and designated the second week in February for the occasion.

He chose February because it holds the birth dates of President Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12), who issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (whose birthday is generally recognized on Feb. 14).

The week has since evolved into Black History Month to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of Blacks.