Comparing Booker T. Washington And WEB Du Bois

Who Should Be For Us?

The writing style of both, Booker T. Washington and WEB Du Bois comes out to be realism. Both authors focused on the middle class, observations of their everyday lives, and attempted to depict their lives without idealizing it. Realism is defined as the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly. Another definition of realism is described as the quality or fact of representing a person, thing, or situation accurately, or in a way that is true to life. Although both authors wrote in the same writing style, their views upon African Americans were different. In addition to, their writing styles encapsulated two very different approaches to racial advancement, race

relations and education. They strongly disagreed on strategies for black social and economic progress.
Booker T. Washington wrote in the style of realism and taking information from his personal life, it’s understood why he wrote this way. He preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity, and accommodation. Washington was familiar with slavery and segregation; therefore, he knew he was not granted special treatment and his education was limited. Even though these obstacles were against him, he went on to study industrial education and eventually became and an educator. Writing in the form of realism ties in with the way Washington’s life played out. “Washington strived nobly to make Negro artisans business men and property-owners to defend their rights and exist without the right of suffrage.” (History of Black Education) He urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and focus on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. It is clear that Washington’s main goal was to see African American people become successful; too knowing that it would be a struggle. The key to getting passed these points were determination and hard work. In ‘Up From Slavery’, Washington explained his autobiography by shedding light on his past life and events that happened since. Focusing on the way his life started and the way it has resulted in him being a renowned educator. This story is a great reason why his writing style fits him perfectly because he is simply stating an event that has occurred during his lifetime and giving explanations of them.
WEB Du Bois thought that Washington’s strategy would serve only to perpetuate white oppression.

He committed his life to a relentless opposition to racial and social injustice. Du Bois was raised in a totally different environment than Washington. He was free to do what he wanted and never experienced extreme situations of slavery or southern prejudice. With no odds against him, Du Bois attended Fisk University and eventually became the first African American to receive a doctorate degree from Harvard University. Du Bois believed that “the talented tenth of the black population who, through their intellectual accomplishments – would rise up and lead the black masses” (History of Black Education). Let us be reminded that Du Bois style of writing was realism. His real life situations caused his perspective to be set in a different angle than Washington’s because they had experienced two different ways of life. If a person has never experienced a situation, he is always less likely to understand it. However, after experiencing ways of life, there is usually a lesson to be learned. The fact that Washington and Du Bois perspectives were opposite was never the problem. The link that tied them together was that Washington had experienced a way of life and could give reasoning to go along with it, because it was real to him. Du Bois could agree with Washington – and still would never be able to understand his concepts because he did not experience that way of life. In opposition, Washington could agree with Du Bois, but being that he was not raised in the north, or attended a high ranked University, that way of life was not what he understood. According to ‘The Souls of Black Folks’, Du Bois proposes that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.” In the book, Du Bois states how far race has come, what people have had to go through in order for this progress to be accounted for, and possibilities for the future for African American

people.
As far as the relationship between both authors’ intentions, they both had hopes for their generation and future generations. Despite their differences in approach toward equality for blacks, the main thrust for each philosophy was first class citizenship for African Americans.
Even though the two men had different opinions about African American people, both Washington and Du Bois were great during their lifetimes. As I previously stated, a person cannot understand a situation that he has not had to live. It is hard to grasp a lesson from looking at someone else, but when you actually have to do the work – the lesson is clear. For Washington, writing in the style of realism was comfortable and came from how he felt about his life while having to experience hardships. This is not to say that his opinion was not valid, because it was due to the fact that it was all he knew. As far as Du Bois, his points and perspective were just as important as Washington. He was given a different lifestyle and it was familiar to him. Writing in the realism style seems to suit both, Washington and Du Bois well because it gives you two different outlooks on one situation.