The NAACP

Booker T. Washington “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” – In 1900, Booker T. Washington was the leading black figure in America. – He founded the Tuskegee Institute, a vocational school in Alabama. – His autobiography, Up from Slavery, was a best- seller. – He argued: Don’t demand equal rights. Start at the bottom and work your way up. We will rise by hard work.

W.E.B. Du Bois In 1868, W.E.B. Du Bois was born in New England. He went to college in the South - Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1895, he became the first African American to receive his PhD from Harvard University. From 1897 to 1910, he was a Professor of History at Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Fight for equal rights!” He disagreed strenuously with Booker T. Washington. He argued: Go to college and then lead the fight against discrimination! Du Bois believed that the talented 10% of African Americans would lead the movement against discrimination. – “The Talented Tenth”

His most famous book – The Souls of Black Folk (1903): “The problem of the 20th century is the color line.”

The Niagara Movement In 1905, black professionals - ministers, lawyers, teachers - held a conference at Niagara Falls in New York. They gathered to protest the condition of African-Americans in the U.S. Led by W.E.B. Du Bois, the conference demanded economic, political, and social equality.

The NAACP In 1909, Du Bois was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP waged a campaign for civil rights: – Information - W.E.B. Du Bois ran the organization’s newsletter. It was aptly named The Crisis. – Lawsuits - Lawyers defended black citizens who were wrongly accused. – Investigations - Professionals investigated lynchings and race riots. – Organization - Organizers set up branches in 50 cities. The NAACP fought a long campaign against lynching. In 1919 it published Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: The NAACP put advertisements in major newspapers presenting the facts about lynching. It held its 1920 annual conference in Atlanta, home of the most active Ku Klux Klan in America.