Booker T. Washington Vs W. E. Du Bios Analysis

Lauren Page
H251: African-American History, 1877-Present
25 April 2017
Primary Source Analysis Paper #1 The history of African Americans would not be the same without the oppositions between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bios. Both helped create equality in American society in the late 19th to the early 20th centuries and because of this it helped create the modern Civil Rights Movement. Though both Washington and Du Bios were both born in the same era, it was their differences in background and technique that had the greatest impact on the future. I believe that Booker T. Washington’s views better suited to the historical conditions and attitudes of the times than W.E.B. Du Bios because Washington had first hand experience with slavery,

Washington delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech on September 18, 1895, at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. In the speech, Booker T. Washington ask African Americans not to be involved with any form of militant protest in order to gain civil rights and equality with the rest of society. In the speech Washington argues: “Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Now should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities (Washington, pg 2, The Atlanta Exposition speech).” By saying this Washington means that in order for the African American race to succeed as free civilians they have to learn how to appreciate their background and use that to an advantage to succeed in the society. He states, “The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist folly. (Washington, pg 3, The Atlanta Exposition speech).” He also suggest for African Americans to take advantage of the number of opportunities presented to them in order to succeed in life. He highlights his message to his audience by exampling a ship lost a see and whose sailors were dying of thirst. The only way they managed to survive was after they had listened to the advice of the skipper who told them to “cast down their bucket” into the sea and bring up the fresh water. This analogy exemplifies how blacks were also