A landmark in the history of human rights, the Niagara Movement began when scholar W.E.B. DuBois, the first African American to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard, recruited a group of well-educated Black professionals he called "The Talented Tenth" and urged them to create a formal platform for equal rights. A summit was planned for Buffalo in July of 1905. When DuBois couldn't reserve hotel space in the city the first Niagara Movement meeting was held in the Erie Beach Hotel in Fort Erie, Ontario. The Declaration of Principles authored by DuBois as a result of this meeting became the basis for the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Buffalonian Mary Talbert played a pivotal role in the advent of the Niagara Movement when she opened her Michigan Avenue home to DuBois, John Hope and 27 others for a secret planning meeting of the famous summit.

Talbert went on to serve as president, vice president and director of the NAACP, and as chairman of its Anti-Lynching Committee, she lobbied nationally for passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. During WWI, she assisted with war loan drives, and became a Red Cross nurse with the American expeditionary forces in France. A year before her death in 1922, Mary Burnett Talbert became the first African American woman to receive the prestigious NAACP Spingarn Award. She rests today in Forest Lawn Cemetery and Garden Mausoleum.

She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in October, 2005.

To hear a story about the Niagara Movement from NPR, click here. A 3.5 MB MP3 file will begin to download.

Michigan Street Heritage Corridor

A new attraction - the Michigan Avenue Heritage Corridor - that links three historic sites is being created to commemorate the African American experience in Buffalo and the role the Underground Railroad, the Civil Rights Movement and Jazz each played in shaping that experience.

Michigan Street Baptist Church
The Michigan Street Baptist Church has been a central part of the history and culture of the African American community in Buffalo for more than 150 years. It is one of the oldest properties in Buffalo continuously operated by African Americans. The building was erected in 1845 and became a legendary Underground Railroad station, providing sanctuary for hundreds of freedom seekers before they crossed the border to freedom in Canada. It was a central meeting place for abolitionists and anti-lynching activists. Over the years, Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington each graced its sanctuary.

The Nash House
The Reverend Jesse Edward Nash provided spiritual leadership and civil rights leadership in Buffalo for more than half a century. The son of freed slaves; he arrived in the city from Virginia in 1892 at age 24, to take the pulpit of the prominent Michigan Street Baptist Church. The house where he lived at 36 Nash Street has been completely restored, and includes a public museum on the upper floor, and research and office space on the lower level. The historic Nash Papers will also be available for viewing by historians, researchers and visitors. Tours are available every Thursday and Saturday from 10:00am to 4:30pm.

The Colored Musicians Club
During the '30s, '40s, and '50s, any serious jazz musician who came through Buffalo had to stop by the Colored Musicians Club. Jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald were among the many stars to make music from its stage.

The Colored Musicians Club stands today in its original location at 145 Broadway. Its members are still among the most talented and versatile musicians anywhere. They give free jazz lessons to community youth and hold weekly Sunday night jam sessions. Ring the bell and get buzzed up to the second floor for a truly original Buffalo nightlife experience.

The Michigan Avenue Heritage Corridor is located near the intersection of Broadway and Michigan Avenue in downtown Buffalo. Work on the project is expected to be completed in 2006. Tours are available by calling Motherland Connextions at 716-282-1028 or by visiting motherlandconnextions.com.

African American Heritage Guide

The new African American Heritage Travel Guide is available as a downloadable, printable PDF file. You need the free Acrobat reader to view it.

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