On May 9, 1909, prominent Black leaders and white allies gathered for the First National Negro Conference at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Organized by the Niagara Movement and early civil rights activists, this conference would become a major precursor to the founding of the NAACP. Among the attendees were W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and Mary White Ovington. The event addressed lynching, discrimination, disenfranchisement, and the urgent need for national civil rights legislation. This critical moment consolidated diverse efforts to protect African American rights, setting the groundwork for the sustained civil rights campaigns of the 20th century.
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