“ My dear Mr . Sims ,

I am very sorry indeed that I was not able to fill my engagement at Bluefield . It is not often that I miss an engagement in this way . I found however that when I got back to Washington that it would be impossible for me to get off on the six o ’ clock train and without getting off on that train I would not be sure of catching the morning train that I wanted to to Bluefield . I had business with the United States Department of Labor which was impossible that I should give up , besides some business for the NIAGARA MOVEMENT . I therefore planned to come on a later train at eleven o ’ clock and I found that even there ...”

The Niagara Movement was a civil rights organization founded in 1905 by DuBois and others in Fort Erie , Ontario , across Niagara Falls from Buffalo , NY . It was founded as a counterpoint to Booker T . Washington ’ s “ Atlanta Compromise ” which sublimated political demands to fighting for greater economic opportunities . By 1907 the Niagara Movement was fading , but helped set the stage for the 1910 founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ).

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