Judy Tram Red Group Booker T. Washington and W.E.B.

DuBois Essay
During the time of black segregation in the late 19th century and 20th century, there were two popular beliefs on how African Americans should gain freedom and equality. These two strategies, however, were contradicting to each other. While Booker T. Washington believed that African Americans would only gain equality by accepting the discrimination and working harder to climb up towards equality, W.E.B DuBois suggested that the only way to earn equality was to take political action and demand equality. Booker T. Washingtons strategy to gain equality was to accept the segregation and work hard to become acknowledged as true citizens in the eyes of society. Before his stay at Hampton, he believed that with a respectable education, hard labor was not needed. However, his view shifted during his stay and he realized that manual labor wasnt something to be ashamed of. According to his statement, he not only learned that it was not a disgrace to labor, but learned to love labor (Booker T. Washington) Washington believed that the largest barrier between African Americans and equality was economic dependence. At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence. (Booker T. Washington) He thought that with independence and self-reliance, African Americans would prevail. With this strategy, African Americans would benefit knowledge and skills in labor and therefore attain the respect from whites. However, this plan was too dependent on how the whites would respond. There was the possibility that they could misinterpret the plan as an acceptance of inequality and continue to treat the African Americans poorly. W.E.B DuBoiss strategy was to take political action as a way to earn social equality. He thought that if African Americans were stronger politically, it would help them achieve socially. The power of the ballot we need in sheer defense, else what shall save us from a second slavery? (W.E.B DuBois) If African Americans had the equal right to vote and had power in the government, then segregation would end because they would have some control on rules and laws. The largest

Judy Tram Red Group

impediment, for DuBois, was a lack of education. He believed that a good education would greatly contribute to making the change. According to DuBois, "The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. (W.E.B DuBois) Therefore, he developed a group called the Talented Tenth that recruited a few college-educated African Americans. W.E.B DuBoiss strategy was upfront, aggressive, and very demanding, which would most likely generate a quicker process in reaching civil rights for African Americans. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois were the two main African American leaders of the 19th to 20th century. They were intelligent, highly respected and strived for African American equality. They both were determined to achieve the same goal, but had different approaches on how to accomplish it. W.E.B DeBois had a strategy that completely opposed Booker T. Washingtons strategy and this completely separated the group of African American supporters into two groups. Booker T. Washingtons strategy used a more calm and time-consuming technique, while W.E.B DuBois chose to disrupt society and made it known that African Americans deserved civil rights and equality. DeBois disagreed with Booker T. Washington and claimed, Washington's strategy would serve only to perpetuate white oppression. He strongly believed that Washingtons plan would not gain the whites respect, but more likely lose their respect and then they would be even more looked down upon. Although, both men had great ideas, W.E.B DuBoiss strategy flowed directly into the Civil Rights movement... (PBS) African Americans ultimately earned their equal rights through DuBoiss strategy. These two brilliant men promoted African American civil rights and gave African Americans hope that segregation would end. Though they had the exact same objective, they had completely opposing concepts on how they would reach the goal. Booker T. Washington chose to go with a peaceful, calm, and laborious route by having African Americans accept the discrimination and patiently wait for change. W.E.B objected with this idea and decided to use a political and straightforward strategy; he wanted African Americans to take charge and demand civil rights. Overall, both strategies greatly affected African American history.

Judy Tram Red Group Work Cited

PBS. WGBH educational foundation, n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/ wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html>.