NIAGARA MOVEMENT (1905-1909)

The Niagara Movement was a civil rights group organized by W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter in 1905. The ideas behind the Niagara Movement were largely in opposition to Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of Accommodationism.

The Niagara Movement met annually until 1908 and was considered the precursor to the NAACP (1909) and many of its members, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, were among the new organization’s founders.

1903

The Souls of Black Folk, was published on April 27, 1903. In it, Du Bois spoke against the gradualism of Booker T. Washington, calling for agitation on behalf of African-American rights. W.E.B Du Bois speaks eloquently on the meaning of freedom 40 years after slavery (similar to Mirandy) Below an excerpt:

"Away back in the days of bondage they thought to see in one divine event the end of all doubt and disappointment; few men ever worshipped Freedom with half such unquestioning faith as did the American Negro for two centuries. To him, so far as he thought and dreamed, slavery was indeed the sum of all villainies, the cause of all sorrow, the root of all prejudice; Emancipation was the key to a promised land of sweeter beauty than ever stretched before the eyes of wearied Israelites. In song and exhortation swelled one refrain—Liberty; in his tears and curses the God he implored had Freedom in his right hand. At last it came,—suddenly, fearfully, like a dream. With one wild carnival of blood and passion came the message in his own plaintive cadences:

“Shout, O children! Shout, you’re free! For God has bought your liberty!”

Years have passed away since then,—ten, twenty, forty; forty years of national life, forty years of renewal and development, and yet the swarthy spectre sits in its accustomed seat at the Nation’s feast. In vain do we cry to this our vastest social problem:—

“Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble!”

The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people,—a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people. The first decade was merely a prolongation of the vain search for freedom, the boon that seemed ever barely to elude their grasp,—like a tantalizing will-o’-the-wisp, maddening and misleading the headless host. The holocaust of war, the terrors of the Ku-Klux Klan, the lies of carpet-baggers, the disorganization of industry, and the contradictory advice of friends and foes, left the bewildered serf with no new watchword beyond the old cry for freedom."

As African American communities further claimed there self-ownership, value, and freedom, there was plenty of push back requiring the growth and rise of civil rights groups and advocates

READ

Of course Mirandy and Brother Wind (or at least give her a Read (or watch!)

Did you know that Synchronicity Theatre has a partnership with Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, GA?

Buy a copy of Mirandy and Brother Wind at concessions stand theatre and be sure to stop by Little Shop of Stories to pick up more of Patricia C. McKissack’s wonderful books

SPEND SOME TIME WITH GRANDMAMA BEASLEY IN YOUR SCRIPT! (17)

We believe the heart of the play lies in Grandmama Beasley's monologue. What do you think?

Spend a little extra time with the legacy of Mrs. McKissack!

McKissack had a passion for bringing African- American literature to children... meeting a true NEED! TYA is only at the beginning of catching up, but check out this article to remember why these stories are integral for young minds!