William Monroe Trotter

William Monroe Trotter (April 7, 1872 - April 7, 1934) was a newspaper editor and real estate business man, and an activist for African-American civil rights. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University, and was the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key. Together with George Forbes, in 1901 he founded the Boston Guardian, an independent newspaper of the African-American community. In 1905, Trotter was a charter member of the Niagara Movement, helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with W.E.B. Du Bois in 1909, and independently founded the National Equal Rights League.