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 Click image for more information  William Monroe Trotter helped to found the Niagara Movement, the precursor of the NAACP, and a major milestone in the Negro Protest Movement of the twentieth century. Trotter, the first Black American elected to Harvard College's Phi Beta Kappa Society, sharply criticized the policies of accommodation advocated by Booker T. Washington.
Trotter and his wife Geraldine Louise Pindell moved into 97 Sawyer Avenue atop Jones Hill when they were married in June, 1899. He went into business for himself in Boston as an insurance agent and mortgage negotiator. In March, 1901, he helped organize the Boston Literary and Historical Association, a group that became a forum for militant race opinion. Trotter became more active in discussions about race, and in November, 1901, the first issue of Trotter's newspaper The Guardian appeared, proclaiming itself an organ to voice intelligently the needs and aspirations of the colored American.
The editorials made The Guardian notorious and prompted its readers to strongly-felt opinions. Week after week, Trotter attacked the person, prestige and racial policies of Booker T. Washington. Their bitter rivalry led eventually to lawsuits and counter suits. William Monroe Trotter considered himself much more of an activist than the Bookerites who would go along with policies detrimental to Black people.
Trotter founded the Niagara Movement with W.E.B. DuBois and others. He became a critic of politicians, especially Roosevelt and Wilson. When Wilson encouraged the segregation of employees in government departments, Trotter objected. In an interview with Wilson, Trotter astonished the President by arguing with him. Trotter afterward quoted the President to the press, an action considered to be a violation of courtesy, but his action did reveal that Wilson was aware of the segregation and defended it. In 1915 Trotter organized opposition to the showing of the film Birth of A Nation at the Tremont Theater.
These were perhaps his finest moments. The expenses of the newspaper continually kept Trotter near poverty. Incredibly even after mortgaging and selling all his property and after the death of his wife in the flu epidemic of 1918, he still managed to keep the paper going. He became confused and disoriented while the paper earned a reputation for being poorly written and edited in haste. In 1934 he fell or jumped to his death from the roof of the apartment building where he was staying.
For the pdf version of an article on Trotter by Anthony Sammarco that appeared in the Dorchester Community News on Feb. 22, 2002 Click here.
Source:
Fox, Stephen R. The Guardian of Boston: William Monroe Trotter. New York: Atheneum, 1970.
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Created: August 15, 2003 Modified: June 4, 2007
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