Summary
"We respect Mr. [Booker T. Washington]'s devotion to the educational interests of his race; we admire his genius in rearing such a beacon light as Tuskegee, in the dismal swamp of ignorance and degradation, the great black belt," [Edwin Bush Jourdain] wrote one of Washington's confidantes on Aug. 19, 1902. "But we cannot follow his lead when he counsels 'nolo contendere' in the matter of manhood and citizenship rights. We doubt not his sincerity in the belief that he 'stoops to conquer' but we don't admire, agree with or respect his position of passive surrender of all rights in order to win them."
On an increasing basis, everyday working-class blacks attended mass meetings in black churches, black women feverishly mobilized their own for the right to vote and newspaper journalists singled out those who appeared to be assuming leadership in black America. Oftentimes these meetings and attendees were identified by their location. Thus the participants eventually became known as "Boston Radicals," "Niagarites," the "Niagara Movement" and the "New Bedford Annex."From his 192 1 book"Darkwater" through 1940's "Dusk of Dawn," Du Bois continued to write about his grandfadier and New Bedford: "... cloaked under a stern, austere demeanor a passionate revolt against the world. He, too, was small, but squarish. I remember him as I saw him first, in his home in New Bedford - white hair close cropped; a seamed, hard face, but high in tone, with a gray eye that could twinkle or glare."See the full content of this document
Extract
An Intellectual Sparring Ground
It was called "the New Bedford Annex for Boston Radicals," and at the dawn of the 20th century, the well-appointed house on Arnold Street was one lively place.
Owned by African American lawyer Edwin Bush Jourdain, the house in the West End section of New Bedford saw the likes ofW.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter debating strategies that challenged the accommodationist policies of Booker T. Washington.To this day, Jourdain's descendants confirm that at one time their ancestor's house had been frequented by the black intelligentsia, who exchanged ideas, rehearsed speeches and executed plans for curing the ills facing black Americans.Jourdain was...See the full content of this document
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