n of the highest and best training as the monopoly
of no class or race, a belief in the dignity of labor, and united effort
to realize these ideals under wise and courageous leadership. The time
was not yet quite propitious, and the Niagara Movement as such died
after three or four years. Its principles lived on, however, and it
greatly helped toward the formation of a stronger and more permanent
organization.

[Footnote 1: See chapter "The Intellectuals," in _My Larger Education_.]

In 1909 a number of people who were interested in the general effect
of the Negro Problem on democracy in America organized in New York the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.[1] It was
felt that the situation had become so bad that the time had come for
a simple declaration of human rights. In 1910 Moorfield Storey, a
distinguished lawyer of Boston, became national president, and W.E.
Burghardt DuBois director of publicity and research, and editor of the
_Crisis_, which periodical began publication in November of this year.
The organization was successful from the first, and local branches were
formed all over the country, some years elapsing, however, before the
South was penetrated. Said the Director: "Of two things we Negroes have
dreamed for many years: An organization so effective and so powerful
that when discrimination and injustice touched one Negro, it would touch
12,000,000. We have not got this yet, but we have taken a great step
toward it. We have dreamed, too, of an organization that would work
ceaselessly to make Americans know that the so-called 'Negro problem' is
simply one phase of the vaster problem of democracy in America, and that
those who wish freedom and justice for their country must wish it for
every black citizen. This is the great and insistent message of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."

[Footnote 1: For detailed statement of origin see pamphlet, "How the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began," by
Mary White Ovington, published by the Association.]

This organization is outstanding as an effort in cooeperation between
the races for the improvement of the condition of the Negro. Of special
interest along the line of economic betterment has been the National
League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, now known as the National
Urban League, which also has numerous branches with headquarters in New
York and through whose offices tho