William Monroe Trotter was a pioneering Black journalist, activist, and civil rights leader. His uncompromising demand for racial equality helped to shape Black political thought in the early 20th-century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude, Trotter became one of the most outspoken critics of racial accommodation and segregation. As founder and editor of The Guardian, a militant weekly newspaper, he used sharp editorials to challenge racism and expose injustice.

Trotter co-founded the Niagara Movement alongside W.E.B. Du Bois, in 1905 the precursor of the NAACP. A controversial figure he directly confronted Booker T. Washington’s promotion of vocational training and gradual social change. In 1913, Trotter personal chastised President Woodrow Wilson over the segregation of federal agencies. During a heated White House meeting, Trotter accused the president of betraying his campaign promises of fairness and equality, a betrayal of the American People.

The Joy Trip Project celebrates American history with the stories remarkable features of our past that are too often forgotten. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of men and women who helped to shape the progress of our nation.

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