A History of the Civil Rights Movement

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The Civil Rights Movement Takes Hold

B y the early 1900s, Jim Crow was thoroughly entrenched in the South. African-American leaders disagreed on what course to take. Some were willing to accept segregation, at least in the short term. The black community, they said, should concentrate on self-improvement through hard work and education. Equality under the law would come eventually. The most famous advocate of this viewpoint was the educator Booker T. Washington. Other black leaders demanded that African Americans receive full civil rights immediately. W. E. B. Du Bois was perhaps the most influential champion of this position. Born in Massachusetts in 1868, Du Bois became the first African American to receive a doctoral degree from Harvard University. He wrote widely about racism and, in 1905, helped found an organization called the Niagara Movement. It brought together leading African-American intellectuals, writers, and journalists. The Niagara Movement had limited influence. Its membership never grew to more than a few hundred. But Du Bois helped found a much more significant civil rights organi zation. In August 1908, a deadly race riot tore through Abraham Lincoln’s hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Shocked by the violence, about 60 con cerned citizens met in New York City the following February. Du Bois was