Harpers Ferry - Niagara Movement

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By the time W.E.B. Du Bois (seated) led a small gathering of African Americans to Harpers Ferry in August of 1906, he was already one of the most famous black leaders of his day. Du Bois formally launched his dual career as historian and crusader for social justice in 1903, when he wrote The Souls of Black Folk, in which he stated that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”

And Du Bois wasn’t the only black leader actively pursuing civil rights. J.R. Clifford (standing left) had become one of the first African Americans to practice law in the state of West Virginia. In 1896, he won a landmark civil rights case on behalf of a black schoolteacher, Ms. Carrie Williams. Although not well remembered by subsequent generations, such early civil rights legal victories laid the foundation for future attacks on segregation and paved the way for successes such as Brown v. Board of Education.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park will host a dramatic recreation of the J.R. Clifford/Carrie Williams Case on Thursday August 17th at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Freewill Baptist Church. Advanced ticket purchase is required. Please contact the park at 304-535-6298 for additional information.

(Photo credit: Courtesy of the W.E.B Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst)