Du Bois vs Booker T Washington

963 Words4 Pages
Two great leaders of the African American community in the late 19th and 20th century were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Both of these leaders highly advocated the fair representation of black people and wanted both white and black people to be equally integrated and seen as a whole. However both men had differing philosophies on ways to achieve this representation, with Booker T. Washington wanting interests of black people over time, while W.E.B. Du bois wanted swift change following education. Though both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had similar goals, both men had different objectives and methods of reaching those goals. Booker T. Washington was more focused on achieving education for real jobs, and not asking for equality from among the white men, but instead Washington was focused on getting help from the white men while accepting blacks’ role in the society. Booker T. Washington wanted to show only the good of black people, and believed that blacks were fully capable for working for themselves. Washington wanted to climb the social ladder and advocated it through hard work, patience, and training for jobs. Booker T. Washington asked the white people for help, not equality, for Washington personally believed that blacks wouldn’t make it anywhere in society if blacks’ purely focused on equality. Washington’s views on racial uplift were that he would believe in black acquiescence in social segregation if the whites would agree to the idea for progress in education and agriculture and economics. Methods that Booker T. Washington wanted was that Washington wanted blacks’ to be properly trained for society and real life situations, and believed that this way was more important than being book smart when blacks’ wouldn’t be able to use what had been learned outside in real life. Washington wanted job education for blacks so that the
Open Document