Despite their obvious differences, Booker T. Dubois, agreed that the blacks in the south had to reach one goal: first-class citizenship. Their methods of reaching this goal varied between the two black men. Booker T. Washington believed that blacks needed to gradually work their way from the bottom to the top, achieve positions of power and responsibility, and then demand their rights for equal citizenship. W.E.B. believed that blacks deserved the same rights as whites and they should not have to sacrifice their constitutional rights in order to achieve a status that they already deserved.
Booker T. Washington was born into slavery. He was raised during the midst of the worsening social, political, and economic conditions for blacks. Washington emerged out of this hardship to one of the most influential leaders of his time. He was the founder and principle of the Tuskegee Institution in Alabama. Washington's educational background was training. He was taught that manual labor and learning skills were more successful during this time. Washington became nationally recognized and was invited to speak at the Cotton States and International Opening. Here is when Washington delivered his "Atlanta Exposition Address." In his speech Washington expressed his needs for equal black citizenship and how he felt the blacks should accomplish this goal. He believed that blacks should accept discrimination and concentrate themselves on hard work and material prosperity in order to gain respect of the whites. If the whites had respect for the blacks, social equality would be more easily reached. Washington suggested that the white Americans provide jobs and education for blacks and in return blacks would give up their demand and protest for social equality. Washington believed that this exchange would allow the blacks to gain education, industrial and farming skills, and useful learning trades to ultimately prove themselves to the whites and gain full citizenship rights.