The Niagra Movement

At the dawn of the 20th century, black Americans were facing increasingly precarious circumstances. Throughout the South, state legislatures were effectively stripping black men of their civil and voting rights. A legal system of Jim Crow racial segregation had taken root. And, blacks were increasingly confronting the ropes and pyres of white lynch mobs. Correctly sensing the mood of whites, both North and South, and of many blacks, Booker T. Washington advanced a program that he believed would enable the two races to exist in peace and prosperity. Washington suggested that blacks should cease struggling for integration and political advancement, and instead focus on becoming economically self-sufficient.