In “The Game of Life”, every roll of the die advances the player one step closer to their ultimate goal. Before reaching their ultimate goal, players must make important decisions involving security that could influence their fate. For instance, a participant can choose if they want their journey to be on the ‘safe path’ or the ‘risky path’. In history, two early leaders of the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois, selected different paths that shaped their strategies for black social and economic progress. They noticed that even though they were afforded a free status, they did not earn equality. The rules, challenges, and focuses Washington and Du Bois abided by were directly affected by their pathway. While …show more content…
Despite choosing different paths, Washington and Du Bois have proven themselves as memorable activists for racial equality in a segregated American society.
Before Washington gained a renowned reputation as a Civil Rights activist, he started at the very bottom of the social ladder. He was born into slavery on a virginia plantation in the year of 1856. For the beginning years of his life, Washington lugged sacks of grain to the plantations mill and lived in a tiny wooden one-room shack. However, his lifestyle would change several years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery. At the age of nine, his family decided to start afresh so, they moved to West Virginia. In West Virginia, he worked at a salt furnace with his stepfather and brother to aid their income. In addition to working, Washington had to juggle learning how to read and write at a black children grade school. His fascination
He would work as a servant and attend school all at the same time because he was very determined to learn how to read and write. That also meant he did a lot of walking and he would be very tired but to him it was worth it. He attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute now known as Hampton University. Then he went on to attend college at Wayland Seminary now Virginia Union University. His mother married another slave and
Regardless, they were able to aid in ending discrimination and received equal standing in education, labor, acquiring of land, etc.. If it had only been Du Bois fighting for equality, then he would have achieved the fight for equality sooner. On the contrary, Du Bois only provided one view to how African Americans were being treated; Washington had a friendlier approach. This may be due to his fear of being lynched or placing African Americans in a harsher situation than they already were. Washington seemed more methodical—he was thinking about African Americans having the full rights of the 14th and 15th amendments. At the same, he was also concerned about the consequences of his speech, and if it angered the whites more than it relieved the situation they were all facing.
Washington 's early education was first influenced by his mother, and Viola Ruffner, wife of the owner of the mines and the other women who made an impact to his struggles later in his life. He was blessed and surrounded with both good black and white women; most of the people that made him succeed were women. His mother was a supportive and positive woman, she bought him a spelling book and encouraged him to learn, Washington showed a positive interest in learning how to read by himself without a teacher. she wasn 't educated but was very ambitious for her children. She taught Washington a lot of morals as a child, she was so smart and creative that she made Washington a hat when he needed one to wear to school from different piece of cloth because she couldn 't afford to get him one.
In his writing, Washington explains how, prior to emancipation, African Americans learned how to master particular trades. Which meant that whites, who could not sow or farm, turned towards those American Americans who could to meet their industrial needs. African Americans who could perform these trades were seen as valuable contributors to society. Washington clearly expresses his belief in the necessity of an industrial education as opposed to a more classical, liberal arts teaching, stating “I would not confine the race to industrial life, not even to agriculture, for example, although I believe that by far the greater part of the Negro race is best off in the country districts” (Washington). While Washington does not say that a classical education is a waste, he believes that African Americans will have a better chance of gaining respect and equality if they stay in trade occupations.
George Washington Carver was born a slave on a plantation of Moses Carver near Diamond Grove, Missouri. He later became a botanist chemist whose interesting life led him to become one of America’s heroes to people of all colors. George Washington Carver spent his first thirty years of life, wandering through the streets of three different states working odd jobs to gain a basic education. He made it his mission to better the lives of poor Southern blacks. He made commercial uses for the regions agricultural products and natural resources.
Washington thought that African American people should do jobs that we had done historically instead of being able to accomplish and achieve what career they wanted for themselves he felt as though it was best. However, W.E.B Du Bois felt as though we could do any kind of profession that we were qualified for, that we could be doctors, teachers, lawyers and so much more. In this certain aspect I agree with W.E.B Du Bois that if the black people were qualified that they could work any job they wanted to instead of being held back from job opportunities because Washington didn’t believe that black people were capable. I feel as though that they should not limit themselves to just the possibility of doing mainly physical labor jobs. Washington also believed southern blacks should stay in the south and live like they always had instead of being able to live wherever they wanted.
Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee institute which is still a predominate and successful black university today. He believed that the route to equality came from hard work and the education of the black race. While he did urge freed slaves to educate themselves, he did accept the civil liberties that were being taken away from them. W.E.B. Du Bois on the other hand, believed this was unacceptable. He also belittled Washington’s school for not acting quickly enough to educate African Americans but, also said they were not learning anything that would be considered higher learning.
Washington was born a slave. He raised himself to a leadership position and founded the Tuskegee Institute, where he taught blacks, he provided vocational training and opportunities for employment to them. He provided agricultural training to them so they could achieve economic freedom. He made public statements that he believes that African Americans should just take the Jim Crow laws and be second class citizens, but behind the scenes he fought for better social and political rights for blacks. There was conflict between him and WEB Dubois.
Washington. He was an educated African American, born in slavery, and saw as the leader of the black folk. His main agenda was to promote the policy of submission since black folk could only survive in it. They wanted political power, civil liberties, higher education, accumulation of wealth, and consolidation of the south, and for their values and beliefs, Washington publicly shamed them. Th black folk further internalized the propaganda that slavery was justified, they neglected their own education, and their future depended mainly on their own efforts.
Dr. W.E.B Du Bois uses this essay to sway the audience of the insufficiency of the statements that Mr. Booker T. Washington has made about African Americans being submissive of rights and the creation of wealth. Mr. Washington believes that the black race should give up and give into what the society norms were at that time sequentially just to have a certain right. Dr. Du Bois refused to believe that the black race should give up one right to get another right. Especially, when the white South had all rights without expecting to give up anything to have those rights.
Both Washington and DuBois believed that the issues pertaining to race should be solved. Although they agree with each other, they are different in some aspects. Both Washington and DuBois agree that education is an important factor in improving conditions for African Americans. Along with that, both men think that there should be equality for every race and that civil rights should be available to everyone regardless of the race. Another thing that both men agree on is that lynching should be banned.
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).
Washington believed in working simple labor jobs and starting from the bottom and progressing up in order to gain the respect necessary to achieve racial equality, Du Bois believed in not submitting to lesser occupations and demanding racial equality. Washington says that the key to prosperity is through learning to dignify common labor. Whereas Du Bois states that “Becoming a gospel of work and money to such an extent as apparently almost completely overshadow the higher aims of life.” “Common Labor” is viewed by Washington as the only way to make progress toward a higher quality life, however, Du Bois views “common labor” as a social setback. Washington’s views can be summed up, almost completely, in the following quote “It is at the bottom of life we must begin, not the top.”
He believed that African American economic gains were not secure unless there was political power to safeguard them. “I think, though, that the opportunity to freely exercise such political rights will not come in any large degree through outside or artificial forcing…" (Washington 234). They both believed in equality. Although one believed in used force and military movements the other used writing to reach his audience. While there were many points of contention between Washington and DuBois, there were similarities in their philosophies as well.
In the analysis of the abundance of wonderful leaders who made a difference in the African American community since emancipation, W.E.B Du Bois made a special impact to advance the world. From founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to his influential book The Souls of Black Folk, he always found an accurate yet abstract way of verbalizing the strives of African Americans as well as making platforms for them to be known. Although he had less power than most of the bigger named African American leaders of his time, W.E.B Dubois’ overweighing strengths verses weaknesses, accurate and creative analogies, leadership style, and the successful foundations he stood for demonstrates his ability to be both realistic and accurate in his assessment since emancipation. Though Du Bois did have a beneficial impact