Death

On the morning of April 7, 1934, Trotter was found crumpled on the ground outside his apartment building; he had fallen from the roof, and was soon pronounced dead. Whether he fell accidentally or committed suicide is unknown. What is known is that his paper had fallen into near-obscurity in the final years of his life, and that he had been in ill health for a few weeks prior to his death. He was widely memorialized as a fearless and independent worker for racial justice, and none put it quite as eloquently as his old colleague Du Bois: “But Trotter was not an organization man. He was a free lance; too intense and sturdy to loan himself to that compromise which is the basis of all real organization. […] Does this mean that Monroe Trotter’s life was a failure? Never. […] The ultimate object of his fighting was absolutely right, but he miscalculated the opposition. […] This does not mean that agitation does not pay; but it means that you cannot necessarily cash in quickly upon it. It means that sacrifice, even to blood and tears, must be given to this great fight; and not one but a thousand lives, like that of Monroe Trotter, is necessary to victory.”