1901
North Carolina Restricts Libraries
A North Carolina law requires state librarians to maintain separate facilities for the use of black patrons.
1901
Alabama Restricts Marriage
The Alabama Constitution is amended to block the passage of any law authorizing or legalizing interracial marriage.

Feb 1901
Up From Slavery
Booker T. Washington publishes Up From Slavery, his best-selling autobiography.
Jul 16, 1901
Washington Meets Roosevelt
Booker T. Washington dines with President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House. Washington takes the opportunity to consult the President about several of his political appointments in the South.
1902
Virginia Constitution Restricts Schools
The Virginia constitution is amended to mandate school segregation.
1903
Souls of Black Folk
W. E. B. Du Bois publishes The Souls of Black Folk, a collection of autobiographical essays and sketches of race relations in the post-Civil War South. In one of the essays, entitled “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others,” Du Bois outlines the flaws in the prominent southern black leader’s message.
1904
Kentucky Restricts Colleges
The Kentucky legislature amends an earlier school segregation statute. Under the new law, private schools and colleges must maintain separate facilities for black pupils.
1905
Kansas Allows Separate Schools
A Kansas law allows Kansas City to create separate schools for the instruction of black students.
1905
The Clansman
Thomas Dixon, Jr., a former Baptist minister from North Carolina, publishes a novel entitled The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan. Dixon describes his aim in writing the book: “My object is to teach the North, the young North, what it has never known—the awful suffering of the white man during the dreadful Reconstruction period. I believe that Almighty God anointed the white men of the South by their suffering during that time immediately after the Civil War to demonstrate to the world that the white man must and shall be supreme.”10 Ten years later, director D. W. Griffith will adapt the best seller for his grandiose film The Birth of a Nation, which will become a national box office.
Jun 1905
Niagara Movement
W. E. B. Du Bois organizes the Niagara Movement, a civil rights organization committed to the fight for social and political rights for African-Americans. The group, named for the location of its first meeting (Niagara Falls, New York), takes an official stance against the policies of accommodation promoted by southern black leader Booker T. Washington.