FRS 2000 Research Paper
The controversial discourse on race between W.E.B DuBois and Booker T. Washington defined much of the social, political, and economic issues in Black Harlem and other African
American communities in the United States during 1910-1930. These two Black intellectual leaders supported entirely diverse views on how to empower and aid African Americans in freeing themselves from their often subhuman conditions. Although they share different perspectives on how African Americans can achieve equality towards gaining civil rights, they shared the same idea to uplift the Black race. Booker T. Washington defined Black Americans’ place within the union as workers who contributed to the machine that already was America and
pushed
…show more content…
Harlan). Not only did African Americans have to settle with the inequalities but
Washington believed participating in the economic developments of the New South.
“What distinguished Washington from DuBois and many other African American leaders of the early 20th century was his philosophy that Black Americans had to keep ever faithful to the virtues of sacrifice, discipline, delayed gratification, and most important, economic salvation for their own communities (Johnson, K. V., & Watson, E).” Contrary to the upbringing of
Washington, W.E.B DuBois was born free to a white French father, Alfred DuBois, and Mary
Burghart DuBois, a Black woman, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1869. “Unlike many
Americans (Black or White) of the time period, his stellar educational opportunities afforded him a national platform for him to espouse his message (Johnson, K. V., & Watson, E).” He
…show more content…
Moreover, I agree with W.E.B DuBois position on how to gain justice, he stresses having equal rights, being educated, and advocating for change in the African American community without just settling and trying to please the White society. In his speech “Let Us Reason
Together” he states, “the line between just resistance and angry retaliation is hard or easy, we must draw it carefully, not in wild resentment, but in grim and sober consideration: and then back of the impregnable fortress of the Divine Right of Self-Defense, which is sanctioned by every law of God and man, in every land, civilized and uncivilized, we must take our unfaltering stand.”He is letting his people know that we will not tolerate such treatment and will rebel against the “norm” of society. Although he is encouraging us to rebel he is not saying it is right to take your anger out on any white man and must choose our battles carefully.
Imelda Hunt:
Good transition
AFRS 2000 RESEARCH PAPER
5
When looking at the two opposing arguments I can see their perspectives are founded by what they dealt with on the daily. Stated early, Washington was freed from slavery as a child
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.
...to be equally educated. His speeches not only attracted the black people but also, northern and southern white people. Booker worked hard for all that he achieved during his life time. People all over were followers of Booker T. Washington. One example of how much these followers appreciated Washington is through raising money for a trip to Europe. Not just anyone went to Europe in those days. The trip showed how much the people appreciated Booker’s efforts for civil rights and education of blacks. They sent
In this essay you will read about numerous similarities as well as differences between these two gentlemen. Their names are Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. But before I explain the differences between these two gentlemen, I will give you a more in depth background on each of them. This information that I will provide for you will give you a clearer thought on how they were raised and their beliefs.
However controversial his methods and objectives, few can doubt that Washington worked hard to achieve them. Certainly the high point in his career was his famous speech at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895, in which he accepted social and legal segregation but promised racial friendship and cooperation.
Booker T. Washington was an African American leader who established an African-American college in 1181. Then in 1895 delivered the Atlanta Compromise Speech to an audience of mainly Southerners, but some Northerners were present. In his speech he made a few points. He said, “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” Washington believed that the African American race needed to learn first that manual labor was just as important as the work of intellects. He thought that until they learned this they were not worthy of becoming intellects themselves. The color line is thus important in teaching them this lesson. He also said, “It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges.” His opinion was that one day blacks would deserve to have equal rights with the whites, but right now in 1895 the blacks needed to be...
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.
to the african american minority at the time. His idea was the idea “to stop racial segregation in
Dubois provides more details on the whole idea behind the thinking of this scholar and his vision for his people. Per this document, Washington’s speech seems to have shocked the nation to hear a Negro man encouraging his community to work together with the whites with goals of financial security. A first, many Negros struggled with supporting Booker’s vision of the black community not focusing on racial equality but working to gain financial freedoms but eventually it won “the admiration of the North and silenced the Negroes themselves.” Race relations amongst the blacks and whites were filled with a lot of tension which was all related to the little rights afforded to the blacks and the racial inequalities/injustices faced by blacks in
After the Civil War, African Americans encountered great discrimination and suffering. During this era, two influential leaders emerged from different philosophical camps. Brooker T. Washington of Virginia and William Edward Burghardt Dubois of Massachusetts proposed, different means to improve African Americans’ conditions. These men had a common goal: to enrich the black community. However, the methods they advocated to reach these goals significantly differed.
The differences of their philosophies were clearly shown in their writings—Booker T. Washington’s “Up from slavery” and Du Bois’s “The Souls of Black Folk”. Before we analyze the similarities and differences of both of the leaders, we have to look at their early life experiences as it can be an important factor on how and where they get their inspiration for their philosophies. Booker T. Washington was an influential leader during his time and a philosopher that always addressed the philosophy of self-help, racial unity and accommodation. He had preached and urged all the black people to simply accept the discrimination that they got and asked them to work hard to gain material prosperity (Painter 169). In his
During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led
When talking about the history of African-Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, two notable names cannot be left out; Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois. They were both African-American leaders in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, fighting for social justice, education and civil rights for slaves, and both stressed education. This was a time when blacks were segregated and discriminated against. Both these men had a vision to free blacks from this oppression. While they came from different backgrounds, Washington coming from a plantation in Virginia where he was a slave, and Du Bois coming from a free home in Massachusetts, they both experienced the heavy oppression blacks were under in this Post-Civil War society. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois were both pioneers in striving to obtain equality for blacks, yet their ways of achieving this equality were completely different. W.E.B Du Bois is the more celebrated figure today since he had the better method because it didn’t give the whites any power, and his method was intended to achieve a more noble goal than Washington’s.
Two of the most influential people in shaping the social and political agenda of African Americans were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, both early twentieth century writers. While many of their goals were the same, the two men approached the problems facing African Americans in very different ways. This page is designed to show how these two distinct thinkers and writers shaped one movement, as well as political debate for years afterward.
The beginning of the early twentieth century saw the rise of two important men into the realm of black pride and the start of what would later become the movement towards civil rights. Both Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois influenced these two aforementioned movements, but the question is, to what extent?
Washington 's programme naturally takes an economic cast” (Du Bois). Du Bois believed that Washington’s theory was a gospel of Work and Money that ultimately overshadowed the higher aims of life” Later he makes another statement so powerful that should have made all African Americans want to stand up and fight for a better social status and rights for both the South and North. He goes on stating “The growing spirit of kindliness and reconciliation between the North and South after the frightful differences of a generation ago ought to be a source of deep congratulation to all, and especially to those whose mistreatment caused the war; but if that reconciliation is to be marked by the industrial slavery and civic death of those same black men, with permanent legislation into a position of inferiority, then those black men, if they are really men, are called upon by every consideration of patriotism and loyalty to oppose such a course by all civilized methods, even though such opposition involves disagreement with Mr. Booker T. Washington.” (Du