Washington were two great leaders of the African American community in the late 19th and early 20th century. However, these two scholars disagreed on strategies for African American social and economical progress. Their opposing philosophies can be found in much of today's discussion over how to end class and racial injustice, what is the role of African American Leadership, and what did Dubois and Washington displayed in the African American community.
During the time between 1895 and 1920, black Americans experienced many social, economic and political difficulties. Many African Americans supported the program of Booker T. Washington, the most prominent black leader of the late 19th and early 20th century, who counseled them to focus on modest economic goals and to accept temporary social discrimination. Others, led by the African-American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois, wanted to challenge segregation through political action. .
Washington and Du Bois both have valid strategies; Washington believing that blacks could advance themselves faster through hard work than by demands for equal rights, Du Bois declaring that African Americans must speak out constantly against discrimination. During the 1870's, the principle of segregation by race extended into every area of Southern life, from railroads to restaurants, hotels, hospitals and schools. Any area of life that was not segregated by law was segregated by custom and practice. In 1873 the Supreme Court found that the Fourteenth Amendment granted no new privileges or immunities to protect African Americans from state power. In 1883, furthermore, it ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not prevent individuals, as opposed to states, from practicing discrimination. An example would be Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), where the Court found that "separate but equal" public accommodations for African Americans, such as trains and restaurants, did not violate their rights.
As the nineteenth century approached, America was facing many problems: political, economic, and, arguably the most critical - social. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, African Americans struggled to end the racial division that had conquered the United States for centuries. Two men ...
Booker T. ... W.E.B. also wrote the now famous book The Souls of Black Folks, which, in one chapter, entitled "Of Booker T. Washington and Others," insults Booker T. for expecting too little from his people. ... Booker T. and W.E.B. both spoke in front of unusual audiences. ... Washington, and W.E.B. ...
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois were two very important civil rights leaders in the late 1800's to early 1900's with common goals, but different ways of achieving them. Booker T. Washington was a little more patient in his philosophy. He wanted African Americans to quiet down about all the ...
The Distinctly Different Viewpoints of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois The life of an African-American in the late 1800s and early 1900s was one of poverty without education or equality. After the Civil War ended, the South was war-torn and impoverished and under Reconstruction. Almos...
Booker T. Washington was born in Virginia in 1856. Even though he was born into slavery, he received a teaching degree from a freedman's school in Hampton, Virginia. In 1881 he founded what is now known as Tuskegee University. Booker T. Washington's major focus was to educate African Americans in ag...
Washington, DuBois, and Racial Discourse As the dialogues on race wear on - and as America, as a country, continues to suffer from racial fractures that run deep indeed - the historical figures (meaning just that - the figurative modern representations) of Booker T. ... So to view Dubois" narrative we must first turn the page back, as it were, to Booker T. ... The strangest - and most important - feeling that one takes away from Up From Slavery is that the book isn't at all about Booker T. ... In order to gain entrance to the school, in order to get an education to further free himself,...
Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Dubois Despite their obvious differences, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. 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 believe...
To serve the cause of human freedom, a person has to be brave, a leader, patient and unselfish. Throughout history many people have fought for what they believed in to gain freedom for their people. One man who did this is Booker T. Washington. Washington was an African American advocate who wan...
History Comparison Essay The future of the freedman W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. ... Booker T. Washington was born four years before the civil war had begun, Dubois was born three years after the civil war had come to an end. ... Dubois's and Washington's slightly different backgrounds caused them to have different views on the future of freedman in the United States. ... Washington and Dubois were both visionaries who shared the same goal, although they had there own individual ways to obtain that goal. ...