Washington Vs Dubois Analysis

DuBois wrote The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, which can fall into two periods: “nadir of American racial relations” and Jim Crow. “Nadir of American racial relations” is a term coined by historian Rayford Logan and was expanded upon by historians such as James Loewen. The “nadir” is defined as an era that began after the Reconstruction era and lasted until the Second World War. It is a time period where blacks in the South were subject to extreme forms of racism perpetuated by the society. The very rights that were provided to them after the emancipation and during the Reconstruction era were being suppressed by people who felt that they did not deserve it.

Two of the most important men in American history are Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois. They were both educated and they both fought for civil rights for African Americans. But they are totally different one believed in economic rights and, the other believed fighting for your rights now. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois are very different they didn’t see eye to eye on some of their decisions.

Booker T. Washington was born a slave and worked as a janitor to get through school. Whereas W.E.B. Du Bois was born in the North and faced very little discrimination, and had an easier time getting into College. They were well educated, and the only difference between them was how they were raised in different environments. Both were on the journey to improve African American’s social and political status in America. However, they had different methods for getting what they wanted.

W.E.B Dubois famously stated, “ Awful as race, prejudice, lawlessness and ignorance are, we can fight time if we frankly face them and dare name them; and tell the truth; but if we continually dodge and cloud the issue, and say the half-truth because the whole stings and shames; If we do this, we invite catastrophe. Let us then in all charity but unflinching firmness set our faces against all statesmanship that looks as such. I find W.E.B Dubois thoughts to be true based on my upbringings and the lessons that I have been taught in school. Last week I attended the 1619 Conference in McGrew Towers about this particular year, 1619, which establish African American place in America. The 1619:

Atlanta Exposition Argumentative Essay Civil rights activist, Booker T. Washington in his address “Atlanta Exposition” delivers and influential speech about equality of race in the South. Washington's purpose is to appeal to white southerners and importance of the common interests between African-Americans and whites. He adopts a persuasive tone in order to convince both African American and white southerners that they can achieve progress but separately. Washington begins by addressing the population of African Americans in the south.

The Booker T. Washington model involves helping the black community by intercepting the white community. By climbing through the white community and finding success, they are able to have the power to bring some triumphs to the black community. The W. E. B DuBois model does not uphold the traditional rules that kept the the white community in power. This model deals with destroying the system the places the black community at a disadvantage to the white community. Bledsoe is associated with the Booker T. Washington model and often comes under scrutiny for being too compliant while others are fighting for immediate equality and not just small victories here and there.

From 1896 to 1924, America went through a period known as progressivism in which people of all walks of life banded together to oppose conservatism and reform society. Progressives generally believed that government is necessary for change, however; it had to more significantly embody the ideals of democracy. Some of the specific changes that progressives wanted were regulating railroads, a direct election of senators, graduated income tax, limited immigration and eight-hour workdays. By supporting these changes, the progressives hoped to promote and expand democracy and thus give the people more power.

Dubois also proposes a solutions to the Black community. For Du Bois, education is very important for black folk. In the society where  racism exist, education is the path to freedom. Educated folks will know how to lead the community to gain rights. Dubois come to this solutions with the approach of pragmatism.

DuBois’s first post-dissertation book, The Philadelphia Negro, released in 1899, determined that housing and employment discrimination were the principal barriers to racial equality and black prosperity in the urban North. (blackpast.org/aah/dubois-william-edward-burghardt-1868-1963) In his written book, The Souls of Black Folks, released in 1903, he argued for "manly" and "ceaseless agitation and insistent demand for equality” which demanded a education of equality for blacks that’s not inferior to whites. (W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP, Virginia Historical Society) Du Bois promoted the idea of self improvement, without giving up full citizenship rights, which impacted the general well being of African American and visualized the idea of having an exclusive group of all black, educated leaders called “The

Achieving African American Equality Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois were two of the most influential advocates for African American equality during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Blatty, 1). Although both men ultimately had the same goal, their methods for achieving African American equality were remarkably different. To begin, the men had conflicting ideas about what constituted as African American equality. Booker T. Washington argued that the accumulation of wealth and the ability to prove that Blacks were productive members of society would be the mark of true equality for African Americans (Painter, 155).

W.E.B DuBois’ plan was smarter than Booker T. Washington’s because DuBois’ plan was to fight for the rights of African Americans, and give people a good and equal education. Booker T Washington’s plan was to ignore segregation and discrimination so he can just focus on the wealth and education of former slaves to win over the whites acceptance. One part of DuBois’ plan was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP. This Association was one of the most influential civil rights organization. It “focused on legal strategies designed to confront the critical civil rights issues.”.

Du Bois believes that Washington exhibits an old attitude of submission. Whereas Washington sees starting from the bottom as necessary and beneficial Du Bois sees it as submissive and harmful towards the progression of equality. Both Du Bois and Washington believed that their viewpoint was going to lead to more equal treatment and overall improved quality of life for African Americans. Both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had ideas on how to improve African American lives, Washington believed in starting at the bottom and working up whereas Du Bois had an opposing viewpoint he saw starting from the bottom as submissive and believed African Americans should hold important jobs in

Both worked adamantly against lynching and opposed racially motivated violence. While Washington may have stressed industrial education over liberal arts, he did believe that liberal arts were beneficial (Washington 203). Furthermore, DuBois greatly appreciated and acknowledged many of Washington's noteworthy accomplishments (DuBois 68). The best plan in my opinion was from Booker T. Washington because he was able to live through slavery first hand he knows what they went through and how it felt. How can preach or speak on equality when you never had to experience the slavery first

There are a few ways that Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois differ in their strivings for racial equality. The reason that these men differ in their views are pretty apparent and go back to the separate arguments that Jane Addams and Elizabeth Cady Stanton produced for women's rights in the 19th century. Jane Addams made some compromises in her push for women's suffrage to make her argument easier to swallow and take a small step towards equality. Stanton puts out her whole argument for total equality which made her argument hard for her generation to accept, but got all the problems on the table.

Argumentative Speech Booker T. Washington an African American had great topics that were introduced to society which developed a plan focusing on economic opportunities that addressed the disfranchisement of the African Americans, and industrial education. Washington seeked to expand opportunities for African Americans in markets that white laborers have abandoned in the south. Having a period of time where African Americans are able to expand their access to new opportunities during the Reconstruction has given African Americans the opportunity to vote as well as giving us the chance to be a candidate as the President of our nation. Living in a period of time where we are all discriminated, treated unfairly, no equal rights and living in poverty has made a great impact on our society. We have all been to point where we all have to dealt with daily struggles on a daily basis.