WEB DuBois V. Booker T. Washington

He believed that academic education was more important than trade education. Du Bois was of the opinion that Washington's emphasis on industrial education actually kept African-Americans trapped in lower social and economic classes by suggesting that they were best suited for service occupations. 4 He wanted African-Americans to be encouraged to succeed in the arts and sciences, not cotton-picking.5 In retrospect, both Washington and Du Bois wanted to eventually get to the same destination, that of complete equality for blacks and all other minorities living in America; Du Bois just wanted to take a shortcut and get there faster. Washington realized that blacks would not get total equality overnight, so he campaigned for economic independence, which he believed would ultimately be the ticket to black political and civil rights. Du Bois instead focused on the intellectual, not vocational, development of the African-American community. He felt that by identifying and providing a college education to these bright individuals, they would have a major impact on the economic status of the African-American population.6.
             Perhaps the reason behind these two men holding extremely varying viewpoints is their personal background and the way in which they were brought up. On one hand, Washington was born a slave to parents who were slaves. He saw first-hand the extreme cruelties and punishments in which his kin were forced to endure. After emancipation, he and his family moved to West Virginia, where he worked from the age of nine. He was forced to work extremely hard for everything in his life and his troubles were rewarded when he attended and later joined the staff of the Hampton (Va.) Normal and Agricultural Institute.7 In 1881 Washington was selected to head the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. He is perhaps most famous for transforming this teacher-training school for blacks into a thriving institution.