This year, activists and organizers will try to recapture a sense of appreciation as America celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Niagara Movement, a predecessor of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the 40th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.

The Niagara Movement began when W.E.B. DuBois sent out an invitation to oppose the position of Booker T. Washington that African Americans should permit and follow segregation laws.

Dubois, the first African American Harvard doctoral graduate, recruited the "Talented Tenth," a group of well-educated, elite African-Americans. While trying to create a more formal attempt at struggling for equal rights, DuBois planned a summit in Buffalo for July of 1905. Because he could not reserve the hotel for our city, Fort Ontario, Canada was where the monumental meeting was eventually held.

The Department of African American Studies is participating in a series of events marking the Centennial of the Niagara Movement. A press conference was held over the summer, and a re-dedication of the Mary Burnett Talbert Hall was done this September to celebrate Talbert, one of the first female members of the Niagara Movement, and a Buffalo resident.

Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Jacobs Center, the department is sponsoring the world premiere of Professor Rey Scott's original musical composition, "Ode to the Niagara Movement."

"These events don't really involve students. I didn't know about any of them," said freshman Jackie Arnone, elementary education major. "I feel like we have Black History Month to think about all of these kinds of civil rights issues, but I think there should be some more discussion and things for students."

The most important part of the Niagara Movement was the "Declaration of Principles," which were written by Dubois and eventually became the foundation for the NAACP.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965. Without it, discriminatory rules such as poll taxes and literacy tests still existed, causing many Americans to speak out.

"African Americans using their rights to express their views and voice in America shows that the progress that was done by past reformers, such as voting and public opinion, was important," said Bryan Benway, a junior business major. "It affects everyone. It changed the way America was shaped, and what it is now—everyone has an equal chance to come (to UB), because of these events."

Although many UB students seem to desire a way to celebrate and discuss these landmarks, many said there doesn't seem to be a way for them to do so.

"Those events probably give me the rights I have now," said Jason Li, sophomore accounting major. "Students should do something because those two events make America look better in the eyes of the world."