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The National Negro Committee (formed: New York City, May 31 and June 1, 1909 - ceased: New York City, May 12, 1910) was created in response to the Springfield race riot of 1908 against the black community in Springfield,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
. Prominent black activists and white
progressives Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techno ...
called for a national conference to discuss African American civil rights. They met to address the social, economic, and political rights of African Americans. This gathering served as the predecessor to the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP), which was formally named during the second meeting in May 1910.


Origins

In early September 1908 American socialist
William English Walling William English Walling (1877–1936) (known as "English" to friends and family) was an American labor reformer and Socialist Republican born into a wealthy family in Louisville, Kentucky. He founded the National Women's Trade Union League in 1903 ...
published an article, "Race War in the North" in ''The Independent.'' He described the massive white race riot directed at
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
residents in Springfield, Illinois, hometown of late President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
. The riot had resulted in seven deaths, the destruction of 40 homes and 24 businesses, and 107 indictments against mostly African Americans who had tried to defend their homes. Walling concluded by saying that a powerful body of citizens needed to come to the aid of blacks in the United States. Mary Ovington wrote to Walling about her interest in this subject and met with him at his apartment in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, along with social worker Dr. Henry Moskowitz. The three decided to organize a national conference on the civil and political
rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory ...
of
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s, to be held in New York on the centennial of Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1909. They issued a call to progressives, and many people responded. They formed the National Negro Committee, which held its first meeting in New York on May 31 and June 1, 1909, at the Henry Street Settlement House on the Lower East Side. The group leaders initially tried to get the famous
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
k to attend meetings to gain popularity. Although Oswald G. Villard, the grandson of
William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...
and one of the founders, was fed up with Washington ignoring "the real injustices" that affected African Americans, Villard knew that inviting him would help the organization gain momentum. Villard told Washington that the organization would avoid allying with either the more radical activists and scholars such as W. E. B. Du Bois or the conservatism of Black Tuskegee activists, but attempt to benefit all African Americans. He nonetheless clarified that the organization would be a "radical political movement." Washington refused to attend, out of fear of ensuing Southern controversy, a concern of ruining the tone of the meeting, and a desire to avoid agitation. The Committee was not overly bothered by his absence, as Villard was more interested in attracting those like Du Bois to shake up Washington's widespread conservatism. The meetings sparked tensions with Washington and his supporters. Many of the Committee's members had been part of the
Niagara Movement The Niagara Movement (NM) was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists—many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States—led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. ...
, which had had notoriously poor relations with Washington. The meetings also lacked many of Washington's allies, such as
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
, who pointedly did not attend. The Committee generated a fair amount of controversy, with some fearing that it would dramatically worsen race relations, and others expressing concern over its "political emphasis." Many claimed the Conference was "anti-Washingtonian." Nevertheless, the organizers continued on. The attendance of both Black and white activists was a positive indicator of a "successful cooperation of the races." The meetings covered topics including social and economic issues, voting rights, physiological differences between races, lynching, and education. The June 1st meeting brought about disputes between white members and Black members, who expressed a lack of trust in their white counterparts. This tension was partly due to the resurgence of the issue of courting Washington's support, this time in the context of including him in a steering committee to appeal to potential white donors. The committee was eventually formed without Washington. It also overlooked more radical members such as
Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...
(although she was later included in the committee), who were not chosen in favor of more moderate members, which caused more argument. During the debates of the evening, white leaders were generally patronizing towards Black members, as Ovington herself acknowledged:
I find myself still occasionally forgetting that the Negroes aren't poor people for whom I must kindly do something, and then comes a gathering such as that last evening and I learn they are men with most forceful opinions of their own.
Willard even went so far as to suggest the formation of a separate group with less "trying" members. Du Bois was the eventual savior of the evening, as he managed to win over the whites. He later recounted the evening as "warm and passionate," and described a woman who stood up and "cried in passionate, almost tearful earnestness - an earnestness born of bitter experience - 'They are betraying us again - these white friends of ours.'" Following more discussion, the committee eventually came to a resolution:
We agree fully with the prevailing opinion that the transformation of the unskilled colored laborers in industry and agriculture into skilled workers is of vital importance to that race and to the nation, but we demand for the Negroes as for all others a free and complete education, whether by city, state, or nation, a grammar school and industrial training for all, and technical, professional and academic education for the most gifted.
Washington was, unsurprisingly, unhappy with the committee's more radical stance. The resolution also drew scathing criticism from large publications, who expressed fears of a "socialist revolution" sparked by "More Fool Negroes." By May 1910, the National Negro Committee and attendees at its second conference organized a permanent body known as the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP).


National Negro Committee Membership on June 1, 1909

*
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...
*
Maria Baldwin Maria Louise Baldwin (September 13, 1856 – January 9, 1922) was an American educator and civic leader born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She lived all her life in Cambridge and Boston. Writing in 1917, W. E. B. Du Bois claimed she ha ...
*Dr.
Charles Edwin Bentley Charles Edwin Bentley (1859–1929) was an American dentist. In Chicago, he was the founder of what grew to be the largest local dental society in the world in the early 20th century. As an African American civil rights activist, he was a founde ...
*Rev. Walter Henderson Brooks * William Lewis Bulkley * John Dewey * W. E. B. Du Bois * Archibald H. Grimke * Lafayette Mckeen Hershaw *
Leslie Pinckney Hill Leslie Pinckney Hill (14 May 1880 – 15 February 1960) was an American educator, writer, and community leader. From 1913 to 1951, he served as principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia and oversaw the institution's move to ...
*Rev.
John Haynes Holmes John Haynes Holmes (November 29, 1879 – April 3, 1964) was an American Unitarian minister, pacifist, and co-founder of the NAACP and the ACLU. He is noted for his anti-war activism. Early life Holmes was born in Philadelphia on November 2 ...
* Paul Kennaday * Jacob W. Mack * M. D. Maclean * John Elmer Milholland *Dr. Henry Moskowitz * Leonora O'Reilly * Mary W. Ovington * Albert E. Pillsbury *
Charles Edward Russell Charles Edward Russell (September 25, 1860 in Davenport, Iowa – April 23, 1941 in Washington, D.C.) was an American journalist, opinion columnist, newspaper editor, and political activist. The author of a number of books of biography and soci ...
* William S. Scarborough *
Edwin R. A. Seligman Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman (1861–1939), was an American economist who spent his entire academic career at Columbia University in New York City. Seligman is best remembered for his pioneering work involving taxation and public finance. His p ...
*Rev. Joseph Silverman *Dr. William Albert Sinclair *
Moorfield Storey Moorfield Storey (March 19, 1845 – October 24, 1929) was an American lawyer, anti-imperial activist, and civil rights leader based in Boston, Massachusetts. According to Storey's biographer, William B. Hixson, Jr., he had a worldview that embod ...
* Charles Franklin Thwing * Oswald G. Villard * Lillian D. Wald *
William English Walling William English Walling (1877–1936) (known as "English" to friends and family) was an American labor reformer and Socialist Republican born into a wealthy family in Louisville, Kentucky. He founded the National Women's Trade Union League in 1903 ...
*Dr. Owen Meredith Waller *Bishop Alexander Walters * Ida Wells-Barnett * Susan Wharton *Dr. Stephen S. Wise * Celia Parker Woolley * Richard Robert Wright *Judge Wendell Philips Stafford * Mary Church Terrell *Rev. John Milton Waldron


References

{{NAACP African Americans' rights organizations