Today, on The Blackman's Blog, we look back 114 years to a meeting of 29 brave black souls who created the Niagara Movement. Men like Monroe Trotter, WEB Dubois, John Hope, Frederick McGhee, Max Barber who were refusing to go along with Booker T. Washington's philosophy of casting buckets and accepting second-class citizenship in this country.
I will revisit not only the guiding principles of the initial meeting in Niagara Falls, Canada but also the statement of purpose from the second meeting in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in the summer of 1906. Although the Niagara Movement was disbanded in 1910. Its historical relevance was profound and longlasting. Because from the Niagara Movement the NAACP with WEB DuBois as one of that organization's founding members. In addition, the exceptional work of Boston publisher Monroe Trotter continued with his journal The Guardian.
So join me this morning as I revisit the Niagara Movement that started on July 11, 1905. The struggle for full emancipation for our black ancestors was its goal. These 29 men sought only to be treated as men and be given the rights deemed constitutional for men in this nation.​

What does American Democracy Mean To Me?

Today I celebrate the birthday of Mary McCleod Bethune, the founder of one of America's greatest educational institutions, Bethune Cookman University, located in Daytona Beach, Florida. Ms. Bethune​ was also the founder of the Council of Negro Women, a thriving organization dedicated to the uplift of black communities across this nation. Ms. Bethune has always placed a premium on blacks gaining a strong educational foundation. That's why she is remembered as one of America's foremost educational leaders. Today, I read the words Ms. Bethune spoke as she described exactly what American Democracy meant to her. Mary McCloud Bethune stated at this period in our black history, 80% of black Americans had moved from being illiterate to being literate when she spoke on this radio panel broadcast. It is my hope that in the near future our black communities will achieve a level of universal literacy to honor the memory of Mary McCleod Bethune.

On July 9, 1893, Daniel Hale Williams performed the second open-heart​ surgical procedure in this country. Daniel Hale Williams opened Provident Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, the first black hospital for patients requiring a hospital stay. He started the first facility that trained black nurses in this nation. Daniel Hale Williams was simply a man who was ahead of his time at a period in our history where a man like those was treasured. Today, on my blog,​ I read from an article on facs.org the life of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, who never allowed his skin color to determine his contribution to society. Even though others might have sought to minimize his contributions to the medical profession.

Daniel Hale Williams evoked Frederick Douglass’ advice to him when he started his term as surgeon-in-chief​ at Freedmen’s: “The only way you can succeed is to override the obstacles in your path,” he said. “Hope will be of no avail. By the power that is within you do what you hope to do.”

On this date in 1876 the tiny hamlet of Hamburg, South Carolina, populated by solely formerly enslaved African Americans was devastated by a white mob of 1000. The massacre actually vanished that town from the geographic map of South Carolina. This is one of the many reasons that descendants of our African American ancestors have a sacred duty to win an appeal for economic reparations from the United States Government. This act and other acts of terror were both state-sanctioned​ as well as federal government sanctioned acts against our ancestors. The Hamburg incident actually emboldened the white mobs to promote Jim Crow not only in South Carolina but all across the former southern confederate states.