National Afro-American Council
Encyclopedia
The National Afro-American Council, the first nationwide civil rights organization in the United States
, was created in 1898 in Rochester, New York
. Before its dissolution a decade later, the Council provided both the first national arena for discussion of critical issues for African American
s and a training ground for some of the nation’s most famous civil rights leaders in the 1910s, 1920s, and beyond.
Led by A.M.E. Zion Bishop Alexander Walters
, who was president for most of the Council’s existence, the Council attracted a wide range of African American journalists, lawyers, educators, politicians, and community activists to its annual meetings. The Council was the brainchild of New York journalist Timothy Thomas Fortune
, whose earlier attempt—the National Afro-American League
—had failed to generate momentum, and disappeared in the early 1890s.
The Council was formed against a backdrop of violent lynching
s and of increasing disfranchisement of African American voters in the South. Alarmed by the lynchings and racial discrimination against African Americans, Bishop Walters circulated a national letter of appeal in the spring of 1898, just weeks after the brutal murder of African American postmaster Frazier B. Baker in Lake City, South Carolina
by an armed mob of whites. “It becomes absolutely necessary that we organize to protect ourselves,” Walters wrote, and more than 150 leaders from across the country signed the letter, which was published in Fortune’s New York Age. Some of them attended the organizational meeting in September 1898 in Rochester, following the dedication of a statue to the late abolitionist leader, Frederick Douglass
.
The meeting endorsed creation of a nonpartisan Council, to be supported by annual dues payments and based on the ideals expressed by the earlier League. Bishop Walters was elected as president, after Fortune declined to serve; other officers included journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett of Chicago, secretary, and federal customs official John C. Dancy of North Carolina, first vice president.
The annual meetings began three months later in Washington, D.C., and were held each year thereafter in a large American city, attracting a vibrant cross-section of African American leaders. Although the overwhelming majority of its members were Republicans, the Council also boasted an active minority of black Democrats, in an unusual arrangement facilitated by the group’s constitution, which mandated the nonpartisan nature of its proceedings and activities. It was among the first national organizations to welcome women members and treat them equally with men; many of the national officers were women, and at least one woman from every state served on the national executive committee.
The Council lobbied actively for the passage of a federal anti-lynching law and raised funds to finance a court test against the new Louisiana constitution’s provision effectively disfranchising most of that state’s black voters, under the terms of its so-called “grandfather clause.” Men judged to be illiterate were deprived of suffrage rights, but white voters with ancestors who had been registered to vote before a certain date were exempted form the literacy requirement. African Americans were unable to qualify for the exemption. The court test, known as Ryanes v. Gleason, was expected to be taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but was eventually dropped, after an unfavorable ruling in the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The Council was designed as an umbrella group, with membership based on organizational affiliation—either in a local or state branch of the Council or through an affiliated organization, school, or newspaper. Officers were elected annually at the meetings, and consisted of a president, nine vice presidents, several secretaries, a treasurer, and a national organizer, among others. In addition, a large national executive committee was composed of three members from each U.S. state or territory, including one female member from each.
The Council was considered the nation’s premier organization of African Americans, and met regularly with U.S. President William McKinley
until his death in 1901. Its meetings were given extensive coverage by local newspapers, both mainstream dailies and African American weeklies, in each host city. The Council met in Chicago (1899), Indianapolis (1900), Philadelphia (1901), and Saint Paul, Minnesota (1902). In 1903, the Council convened in Louisville, Kentucky, followed by Saint Louis (1904), Detroit (1905), and New York City (1906). Its final meeting was held in 1907 at Baltimore, Maryland.
Early officers in the Council included the nation’s only black congressman, Rep. George Henry White
(R-N.C.), who served several terms as vice president and sought twice, unsuccessfully, to be elected president; Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett of Ohio and attorney William H. Lewis of Boston, both vice presidents; attorney Fredrick L. McGhee
of Minnesota, who held several offices; Ida B. Wells-Barnett, first secretary and national organizer; journalists William A. Pledger, Harry C. Smith, and Christopher Perry, all vice presidents; future U.S. minister to Liberia Ernest Lyon of Maryland, Washington, D.C., orator and activist Mary Church Terrell
, and Philadelphia activist Gertrude Mossell, all vice presidents.
The Council’s functional bureaus conducted much of its ongoing work between annual meetings, including work in education, business, anti-lynching activities, and legislation. Among many bureau directors during the Council’s existence were Professor W. E. B. Du Bois, who chaired the business bureau from 1899 to 1901; former Louisiana Gov. P. B. S. Pinchback
, literary bureau (1899); Archibald H. Grimké, literary (1907); Wells-Barnett, Mrs. Terrell, and newspaper publisher George L. Knox, each of whom chaired the anti-lynching bureau; and William T. Vernon
, a future U.S. Treasury Register who chaired the education bureau in 1902.
Among notable members of the national executive committee were Booker T. Washington
of Alabama (1902); federal official John P. Green (1898) and professor William S. Scarborough (1900) of Ohio; anti-Tuskegee activist William Monroe Trotter
of Massachusetts; former congressman George W. Murray
and future U.S. minister to Liberia William D. Crum of South Carolina (1900); future U.S. minister to Liberia John R. A. Crossland of Missouri (1900); Henry O. Flipper of New Mexico (1901), the first black graduate of West Point; and U.S. Treasury Register Judson W. Lyons of Georgia (1900).
The Council came under the influence of Booker T. Washington
in 1902, after Washington engineered the selection of Fortune as president, but quickly lost its earlier effectiveness and grew dormant. After the emergence of the Niagara Movement in 1905, Walters attempted to rejuvenate the Council and distance it from the Tuskegee orbit, hoping to attract new members and bring back older members who had grown disenchanted, such as Du Bois, McGhee, and others.
, and the National Negro American Political League—failed to materialize, the Council faded away. Walters became president of yet another new grouping, the National Independent Political League, and eventually joined the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), formed by 1910. Many other former leaders of the Council, such as Du Bois, George White, Mary Church Terrell, and Archibald Grimké, also helped form the core of the new NAACP, while others joined the new National Urban League
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, was created in 1898 in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. Before its dissolution a decade later, the Council provided both the first national arena for discussion of critical issues for African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s and a training ground for some of the nation’s most famous civil rights leaders in the 1910s, 1920s, and beyond.
Led by A.M.E. Zion Bishop Alexander Walters
Alexander Walters
Bishop Alexander Walters was an American clergyman and noted civil rights leader. Born a slave in Bardstown, Kentucky, just before the Civil War, he rose to become a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church at age 33, then president of the National Afro-American Council, the nation’s...
, who was president for most of the Council’s existence, the Council attracted a wide range of African American journalists, lawyers, educators, politicians, and community activists to its annual meetings. The Council was the brainchild of New York journalist Timothy Thomas Fortune
Timothy Thomas Fortune
Timothy Thomas Fortune was an orator, civil rights leader, journalist, writer, editor and publisher. He was born during slavery in Marianna, Jackson County, Florida to Emanuel and Sarah Jane Fortune.-Early life:...
, whose earlier attempt—the National Afro-American League
National Afro-American League
The National Afro-American League was formed on January 25, 1890 by Timothy Thomas Fortune. Preceding the foundation of the NAACP, the organization dedicated itself to racial solidarity and self-help. The organization became defunct in 1893 due to lack of support and funding.In September 1898,...
—had failed to generate momentum, and disappeared in the early 1890s.
The Council was formed against a backdrop of violent lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
s and of increasing disfranchisement of African American voters in the South. Alarmed by the lynchings and racial discrimination against African Americans, Bishop Walters circulated a national letter of appeal in the spring of 1898, just weeks after the brutal murder of African American postmaster Frazier B. Baker in Lake City, South Carolina
Lake City, South Carolina
Lake City is a city in Florence County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 6,478 at the 2000 census...
by an armed mob of whites. “It becomes absolutely necessary that we organize to protect ourselves,” Walters wrote, and more than 150 leaders from across the country signed the letter, which was published in Fortune’s New York Age. Some of them attended the organizational meeting in September 1898 in Rochester, following the dedication of a statue to the late abolitionist leader, Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
.
The meeting endorsed creation of a nonpartisan Council, to be supported by annual dues payments and based on the ideals expressed by the earlier League. Bishop Walters was elected as president, after Fortune declined to serve; other officers included journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett of Chicago, secretary, and federal customs official John C. Dancy of North Carolina, first vice president.
The annual meetings began three months later in Washington, D.C., and were held each year thereafter in a large American city, attracting a vibrant cross-section of African American leaders. Although the overwhelming majority of its members were Republicans, the Council also boasted an active minority of black Democrats, in an unusual arrangement facilitated by the group’s constitution, which mandated the nonpartisan nature of its proceedings and activities. It was among the first national organizations to welcome women members and treat them equally with men; many of the national officers were women, and at least one woman from every state served on the national executive committee.
The Council lobbied actively for the passage of a federal anti-lynching law and raised funds to finance a court test against the new Louisiana constitution’s provision effectively disfranchising most of that state’s black voters, under the terms of its so-called “grandfather clause.” Men judged to be illiterate were deprived of suffrage rights, but white voters with ancestors who had been registered to vote before a certain date were exempted form the literacy requirement. African Americans were unable to qualify for the exemption. The court test, known as Ryanes v. Gleason, was expected to be taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but was eventually dropped, after an unfavorable ruling in the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The Council was designed as an umbrella group, with membership based on organizational affiliation—either in a local or state branch of the Council or through an affiliated organization, school, or newspaper. Officers were elected annually at the meetings, and consisted of a president, nine vice presidents, several secretaries, a treasurer, and a national organizer, among others. In addition, a large national executive committee was composed of three members from each U.S. state or territory, including one female member from each.
The Council was considered the nation’s premier organization of African Americans, and met regularly with U.S. President William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
until his death in 1901. Its meetings were given extensive coverage by local newspapers, both mainstream dailies and African American weeklies, in each host city. The Council met in Chicago (1899), Indianapolis (1900), Philadelphia (1901), and Saint Paul, Minnesota (1902). In 1903, the Council convened in Louisville, Kentucky, followed by Saint Louis (1904), Detroit (1905), and New York City (1906). Its final meeting was held in 1907 at Baltimore, Maryland.
Leaders and other officials
Walters, who served as president until 1902, was succeeded that year by Fortune. Fortune then served until his resignation in 1904, followed by first vice president William Henry Steward of Kentucky, who served until Walters’s reelection in 1905. Bishop Walters was then reelected in 1906 and 1907.Early officers in the Council included the nation’s only black congressman, Rep. George Henry White
George Henry White
George Henry White was a Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1897 and 1901. He is considered the last African American Congressman of the Reconstruction era, although his election came twenty years after the era's "official" end...
(R-N.C.), who served several terms as vice president and sought twice, unsuccessfully, to be elected president; Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett of Ohio and attorney William H. Lewis of Boston, both vice presidents; attorney Fredrick L. McGhee
Fredrick L. McGhee
Fredrick L. McGhee , a black civil rights activist and one of America’s first African American lawyers. McGhee, born as a slave but who later was able to achieve a substantial career as an attorney and become one of the civil rights pioneers, was a contemporary of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B...
of Minnesota, who held several offices; Ida B. Wells-Barnett, first secretary and national organizer; journalists William A. Pledger, Harry C. Smith, and Christopher Perry, all vice presidents; future U.S. minister to Liberia Ernest Lyon of Maryland, Washington, D.C., orator and activist Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell , daughter of former slaves, was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She became an activist who led several important associations and worked for civil rights and suffrage....
, and Philadelphia activist Gertrude Mossell, all vice presidents.
The Council’s functional bureaus conducted much of its ongoing work between annual meetings, including work in education, business, anti-lynching activities, and legislation. Among many bureau directors during the Council’s existence were Professor W. E. B. Du Bois, who chaired the business bureau from 1899 to 1901; former Louisiana Gov. P. B. S. Pinchback
P. B. S. Pinchback
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was the first non-white and first person of African American descent to become governor of a U.S. state...
, literary bureau (1899); Archibald H. Grimké, literary (1907); Wells-Barnett, Mrs. Terrell, and newspaper publisher George L. Knox, each of whom chaired the anti-lynching bureau; and William T. Vernon
William Tecumseh Vernon
Bishop William Tecumseh Vernon was an American minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, president of Western University beginning in 1896, and Register of the Treasury from 1906 to 1911.-Biography:...
, a future U.S. Treasury Register who chaired the education bureau in 1902.
Among notable members of the national executive committee were Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
of Alabama (1902); federal official John P. Green (1898) and professor William S. Scarborough (1900) of Ohio; anti-Tuskegee activist William Monroe Trotter
William Monroe Trotter
William Monroe Trotter was a newspaper editor and real estate business man, and an activist for African-American civil rights. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University, and was the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key...
of Massachusetts; former congressman George W. Murray
George W. Murray
George Washington Murray was born a slave and served as a Congressman from South Carolina.He was born a slave near Rembert, Sumter County, South Carolina on September 22, 1853. Murray attended the public schools and the University of South Carolina at Columbia for two years...
and future U.S. minister to Liberia William D. Crum of South Carolina (1900); future U.S. minister to Liberia John R. A. Crossland of Missouri (1900); Henry O. Flipper of New Mexico (1901), the first black graduate of West Point; and U.S. Treasury Register Judson W. Lyons of Georgia (1900).
The Council came under the influence of Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
in 1902, after Washington engineered the selection of Fortune as president, but quickly lost its earlier effectiveness and grew dormant. After the emergence of the Niagara Movement in 1905, Walters attempted to rejuvenate the Council and distance it from the Tuskegee orbit, hoping to attract new members and bring back older members who had grown disenchanted, such as Du Bois, McGhee, and others.
Collapse in 1907
Despite well-publicized meetings in New York in 1906 and Baltimore in 1907, however, the Council failed to stabilize and soon collapsed, due to internal friction and lack of revenue. After a proposed merger between the Council and three other groups—the Negro Academy, the Niagara MovementNiagara Movement
The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, the Canadian side of which was where the first meeting took...
, and the National Negro American Political League—failed to materialize, the Council faded away. Walters became president of yet another new grouping, the National Independent Political League, and eventually joined the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), formed by 1910. Many other former leaders of the Council, such as Du Bois, George White, Mary Church Terrell, and Archibald Grimké, also helped form the core of the new NAACP, while others joined the new National Urban League
National Urban League
The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...
.