During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, many leaders and activists emerged with a common goal of gaining equality and civil rights for African Americans in the United States. Of these African American leaders, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois are arguably the most influential and successful civil rights activists of their time. Although they have the same overall objectives, Washington and Dubois have very different ideas of how to accomplish these goals. They both focus on education and eliminating discrimination; however, Washington encourages the African Americans to accept their inferiority and limits them to only common-schools, whereas Dubois insists that African Americans demand complete equality with Whites in all aspects of life, including higher education. In The Souls of Black Folk, Dubois criticizes Washington's argument in "The Atlanta Compromise," saying that Washington's theory of accommodation is not the solution to gaining civil rights and racial equality in America, and he suggests his own solution by stressing the importance of higher education as well as political, social, and economic equality at once.
Booker T. Washington, born in 1856 to a slave mother and an unknown white man, faced many obstacles throughout his lifetime, which may have influenced his views on equality for African Americans (Harlan). Since he was born to a slave, Washington was automatically considered a slave, preventing him from receiving any type of education as a child. After teaching himself to read and write, Washington received a secondary education at Hampton Institute and eventually founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama (Harlan). Washington's ideas, as stated in the "Atlanta Compromise" in 1895, reflect his background and adversities as a child. In this address, he introduces his theory, stating that "it is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top" (History Matters).
