This group was formed on the basis of principles and ideals of DuBois. DuBois believed that social change could be accomplished only through agitation and protest. He also stressed higher education of a "Talented Tenth" who through their knowledge of modern culture could guide the American Negro into a higher civilization. The mission of the Niagara movement was simply to take direct action against black discrimination and oppression through protest, the use of the courts, and education of the American people. The movement, however, ceased to continue s a result of organizational weakness, lack of funds, and permanent headquarters or staff. The group itself died but the ideas of the group lived on when the NAACP was formed in 1909. The National Advancement for Colored People consisted blacks who agreed with DuBois as well as white liberals. From 1910 to 1934, DuBois served as the NAACP Director of Publicity and Research Editor of the organizations magazine, The Crisis. DuBois combined his knowledge of literature from his educational background, his understanding of American Culture as a result of his numerous studies, and taking direct force by protesting for equality to represent what he believed would solve racial discrimination of blacks. His ideas made him an intellectual leader of a new generation of African Americans in the United States- a bold generation that would fight for what was denied to them, equality.
DuBois's technique of handling the problem of racial discrimination and unequal civil liberties for blacks was disputed by a great deal of African Americans. A majority of these blacks adopted the ideas of DuBois's opponent, Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1856 in a slave hut, but after emancipation he moved with his family to Malden, West Virginia. Washington grew up in poverty and therefore discontinued his schooling at age nine to work in a salt furnace and later in a coal mine.
