In 1895, 30 years after the Civil War ended, African Americans still were not granted the rights they ever so desired. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has just died down after oppressing blacks for the first time causing African Americans as a whole to be fearful of the power whites held over our society. Confused and frightened on how to handle the state blacks were in, civil rights activist leaders Booker T. Washington and WEB Dubois began getting recognition from all US citizens due to their drastically different and distinctive ideologies. We as a nation were determined to combat the situation blacks were swirled in. With the nation being scared as to where black equality will lead the nation, Booker T. Washington and WEB Dubois create clashing …show more content…
Washington believed that the only way for African Americans to obtain their rights was through labor and proving that they deserved the rights given to them. Born and working as a slave in his early childhood, he watched how white men were brutal and unsympathetic to blacks first hand. At the age of ten, he was released of slavery and focused on his education so that he may one day change the way whites looked at black people. He watched as the KKK wreaked havoc among black communities and progressive African Americans for 20 years after the Civil War. Watching the authorities do nothing about the racial discrimination drastically affected Booker’s way of thinking. Realizing that African Americans at this point were unable to force change on the America they lived in, Booker believed that the only way to gain rights is through hard labor. In 1895, Booker went to Alabama and …show more content…
As a child, Dubois was born a free man into a wealthy family. With opportunities around for him at every corner, Dubois became determined to make something with his life. After studying at Harvard and becoming the first African to graduate with a P.h.D. there, Dubois set his mind onto the African American treatment in America. Seeing the disgusting nature of white supremacists, Dubois knew that the only way for Blacks to actually obtain their rights was to demand them. Since Booker’s beliefs only appealed to hopeful lower-middle class African Americans, Dubois wanted a resolution that would take less time to come to. Without knowing how long they would need to wait for their rights to finally come, the African American community deserved the equality needed for them. If blacks are held down by the society and fail to get the education they need, they will definitely be stuck in their state forever. When talking on the problem of education for blacks, Dubois stated “Education is that whole system of human training within and without the schoolhouse walls, which molds and develops men”. That being said, if blacks follow Bookers path and decide not to use education to their advantage, they won’t develop into the ment they need to be. If whites are the only ones able to obtain an education, they will remain the men in charge of the nation. With racism being a constant issue within the
Booker T. Washington believed that blacks should not push to attain equal civil and political rights with whites. That it was best to concentrate on improving their economic skills and the quality of their character. The burden of improvement resting squarely on the shoulders of the black man. Eventually they would earn the respect and love of the white man, and civil and political rights would be accrued as a matter of course. This was a very non-threatening and popular idea with a lot of whites.
W.E.B. DuBois was an educator, writer, scholar, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, and later in his life a communist, whose life goal was to gain equal rights for all African Americans around the world. DuBois’ writings were mostly forgotten till the late 1960s, because of his involvement in communism and his absence during the civil rights movement in America. Even though his writings were temporarily forgotten because of his tarnished reputation, his legacy has since been restored allowing for his writings to be reprinted becoming a major influence for both academics and activists. DuBois’ accomplishments include his part in the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and his support for the civil rights movement advocating for equal social and economic rights for all African Americans. His accomplishments and efforts in order to gain equal treatment for African Americans outweigh his shortcomings and failures.
While growing up in the midst of a restrictive world, education becomes the rubicon between a guileless soul and adulthood. In the excerpt from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois provides a roadmap for African Americans to discover and understand themselves through the pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity. The excerpt is a significant part of the essay because it also speaks for the modern day pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity, an indispensable path into finding one’s self.
When it all comes down to it, one of the greatest intellectual battles U.S. history was the legendary disagreement between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This intellectual debate sparked the interest of the Northerners as well as the racist whites that occupied the south. This debate was simply about how the blacks, who just gained freedom from slavery, should exist in America with the white majority. Even though Washington and DuBois stood on opposite sides of the fence they both agreed on one thing, that it was a time for a change in the treatment of African Americans. I chose his topic to write about because I strongly agree with both of the men’s ideas but there is some things about their views that I don’t agree with. Their ideas and views are the things that will be addressed in this essay.
While DuBois respected Booker T. Washington and his accomplishments, he did not. felt that blacks needed political power to protect what they had and what they earned. DuBois called for a new plan of action. He felt that the The greatest enemy of blacks was not necessarily whites but it was the ignorance of the whites concerning the capabilities of the black race. DuBois's answer was to encourage the development of black youth in America.
The United States after the Civil War was still not an entirely safe place for African-Americans, especially in the South. Many of the freedoms other Americans got to enjoy were still largely limited to African-Americans at the time. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois emerged as black leaders. Their respective visions for African-American society were different however. This paper will argue that Du Bois’s vision for American, although more radical at the time, was essential in the rise of the African-American society and a precursor to the Civil Rights Movement.
The right to vote.” This piece of evidence shows that DuBois wants African Americans to get the right to vote. DuBois wanted to take action and wanted African Americans to receive the rights quickly. While Booker T. Washington believed that the Jim Crow laws should be changed but very slowly. Booker T. Washington didn’t really focus on African Americans getting right for now. In Booker T. Washington speech it states that “I pledge that in your effort to work out the great and intricate problem which God has laid at the doors of the South, you shall have at all times the patient, sympathetic help of my race.” This piece of evidence shows that African Americans are going to get civil rights is that the African Americans need to be patient. Both Booker T. Washington and DuBois have different perspective of how to deal with civil rights but both have many
and challenges to African Americans from 1910 until about 1930. Du Bois felt that Americans
African-Americans in the 1920’s lived in a period of tension. No longer slaves, they were still not looked upon as equals by whites. However, movements such as the Harlem renaissance, as well as several African-American leaders who rose to power during this period, sought to bring the race to new heights. One of these leaders was W.E.B. DuBois, who believed that education was the solution to the race problem. The beliefs of W.E.B. DuBois, as influenced by his background, had a profound effect on his life work, including the organizations he was involved with and the type of people he attracted. His background strongly influenced the way he attacked the "Negro Problem." His influence continues to affect many people.
Like Washington, Dubois agreed that “blacks” needed to become economically independent and find civil equality. However, W.E.B Dubois was offended at racial injustice and inequality. Du Bois understood Washington’s program, but believed this wasn’t the solution Unlike Washington, he demanded that African Americans should immediately have the right to vote, equal rights, and be granted equal educational opportunities. WEB Dubois wanted educational reform in a way that fulfilled requirements for African American students. WEB Du Bois declared African American demands through his “Declaration of the Principles of the Niagara Movement,” in which he demanded social equality.
Booker T made his beliefs known in the speech he gave in 1895 called “atlanta compromise” where he said that the southern black person should succumb to white southern standards as in not asking for the right to vote, they would not fight against racist acts, segregation or discrimination. In return to being so obedient to the white man, Booker T says that education would be free but basic. Education would only be vocational or training for industrial skills such as being a teacher or a nurse and college education in things such as humanities, arts, or literature would be outlawed. Booker T says that he will complain,one as long as things such as the due process laws would be applied to the people in the African American community. W.E.B, however, demanded that black people received complete civil rights and more political representation. He firmly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and general discrimination toward people of color. He wrote some very influential books a one being a book of essays called the souls of the black folk. In this book there is one particular essay where he goes over the main basis of his book, that the black person should not stay quiet, they should have the right to speak up about their opinions in the form of having the right to vote, political representation and in proper
W.E.B Dubois is trying to say that African Americans need to stop striving for the farm field and they need to start aiming for education. He wants African Americans to start speaking out in our community, and stand up for what they believe in. The text states,” Stop the free expression of opinion among black people, and not enough is said about efficient, self- sacrificing toil of head and hand.”
Booker T. Washington is one of the most initial African American leaders in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Washington is a representative of the generation before of African American leaders that were born into slavery, he spoke on behalf of blacks that lived in the South, and lost their voting rights due to brutal voting regulations made by south legislatures. Washington worked hard to attain various groups: influential whites, blacks, educational and religious communities nationwide. The essence of his work is what impacts it had on black community, and the struggles amidst the African-American elite. Booker T. Washington is thought by some to be a man that is not sure who his racial allegiances are with, because he was
We can see that African Americans were still struggling for equality even after the emancipation and the abolishment of slavery. They still did not get the equal rights and opportunities compared to whites. This had been reflected in the first essay in Du Bois’s book with a title Of Our Spiritual Strivings that indicates blacks were denied the opportunity that were available to the whites even after emancipation. During the days of Jim Crow, people of color received unfair treatment from almost all aspects of their lives. At that time, not all people were brave enough to express and speak up their desire for transformation. Two most influential black leaders that were known to have the courage to speak up their beliefs in social equality were
In 1903 black leader and intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois wrote an essay in his collection The Souls of Black Folk with the title “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others.” Both Washington and Du Bois were leaders of the black community in the 19th and 20th century, even though they both wanted to see the same outcome for black Americans, they disagreed on strategies to help achieve black social and economic progress. History shows that W.E.B Du Bois was correct in racial equality would only be achieved through politics and higher education of the African American youth.