Booker T. Washington’s Movement on Civil Rights How did Booker T. Washington affect the Civil Rights movement? Booker T. Washington, a professor at Tuskegee Institution for African Americans was a major roll playing leader in the Civil Rights movement. He was a vocational educator that believed vocational education would be the way to reach equality. Booker T. Washington efforts to push for Civil Rights were built on the values of education, self-prosperity, and intense preparation of body and mind. One example that shows Washington’s belief to gain equality was through his efforts to reform education for African Americans. Even though many blacks lacked the opportunities to gain ground in society they could still educate themselves enough for reform. For example Washington argued that “blacks could work up from the bottom from rags to, at least, middle class respectability” (Recken 2). This proves one of his beliefs because; by learning a skill and becoming educated they could prove themselves more valuable to society. He preached to diverse audiences “that hard work, …show more content…
Washington and the Desire for a Du Boisian Intellectuality” was an article printed in the magazine The Envy of Erudition. “African Americans have endured the blessings and curses of freedom” (Gibson III 1). With African Americans free hence the blessings of more rights but, in turn gave them curses in shape of Jim Crow laws and the KKK(Ku Klux Klan) making them live in constant fear and intimidation of racism. “Despite the darkness of this sordid moment in history African Americans conjured enough light to make visible one of its greatest leaders, Booker T. Washington” (Gibson III 1). Although everything stacked against African Americans, they were able to educate themselves enough to make a great leader in Booker T. Washington. This serves as an example to everyone that despite all obstacles people may face they all have a chance to become something greater and bigger than
Although Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois had opposing philosophies on ending racial and economic inequalities for African Americans, W.E.B Dubois emphasized the need for direct involvement in civil rights and political reform. His philosophies and strategies, in my opinion are what helped lead the road towards African Americans gaining their rights. Booker T. Washington ridiculed W.E.B Dubois’s strategy of fighting for their civil rights. Washington believed that the best way to obtain their rights is to prove to whites that African Americans can be productive members of society by means of “keeping their mouths shut, working, and saving, and buy a house.” Dubois refuted his philosophies by stating that there is no point in saving for
Booker T. Washington was born a slave and worked as a janitor to get through school. Whereas W.E.B. Du Bois was born in the North and faced very little discrimination, and had an easier time getting into College. They were well educated, and the only difference between them was how they were raised in different environments. Both were on the journey to improve African American’s social and political status in America. However, they had different methods for getting what they wanted.
Instead of focusing on gaining equality and civil rights, the black American needed to strengthen his own position in society and not focus on his position in relation to others. Finally, the African-American needed to give up higher education. Instead of focusing on higher education, they would instead focus on industrial education and become better workers. Although Washington wasn’t to fully blame for the regression of black’s status in society his public position didn’t necessarily help because he was an advocate for blacks. Dubois and Washington although opposites when concerning black suffrage in terms of voting.
Around the 20th century there has been profound leaders and speakers. The most controversial and outstanding speakers were Booker T.Washington and W.E.B Du Bois,two speakers with very different backgrounds but fighting for the same achievements:which are Black Advancement, Racial Relations,and Educational plans. Booker T.Washington a dominant figure in African American culture, he was born into slavery alongside his mother in Hale’s Ford, Virginia. Were at the age of nine he was freed from slavery,and was able to move along to West Virginia. At the young age of sixteen he was enrolled at the college at the Hampton Normal and Agriculture Institute in Hampton,Virginia.
Louis Harlan examines the life, actions, and motivations of Booker T. Washington from top to bottom, peeling back the many complicated layers of Washington’s double life. Harlan’s research highlights an often overlooked fact of history, that the historical figures that live on in legend are, at the end of the day, only human, and the motivations behind their choices are rarely simple. We can only begin to understand Booker T. Washington by examining his childhood, his public and private life, the world he was living in, and the company he kept during his work as a black leader in white America. Harlan presented a detailed portrait of Washington, tracing his life from his early years as a slave to his rise as a national figure and leader of
Abbey Bliss 10-02-2014 Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois Not all too long ago, the United States was a land controlled largely by discrimination, segregation, hate, and the need to solve those problems. The land was wrought with confusion on how to handle the issue and many lost their lives in the confusion. Racism against African Americans was nothing new at this point in America, but the people needed someone to lead them and cause change in the nation. The two most recognized leaders of this time were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois. The people turned to them and trusted them with change.
However, a black leader who didn’t agree with Washington’s view was William Du Bois. In 1903, William Du Bois published the essay, "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others," in his book ‘The Souls of Black Folk’. He criticised Washington for failing to realise that without political power, economic gains were short-lived and vulnerable. In a time of increasing discrimination and racial violence, Du Bois argued, blacks must press for civil rights rather than accommodate
Booker T. Washington Booker T. Washington was a man who made an incredible impact on American society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a prominent African American educator, author and leader, who worked tirelessly to uplift his community through education and economic development. One of his most notable achievements was founding Tuskegee Institute, a historically black college in Alabama.
Du Bois, on the other hand, had a very different vision of what freedom should look like for African Americans in the South. In his essay “Of Booker T. Washington and Others,” published in 1903, Du Bois criticized Washington’s emphasis on economic progress and self-reliance. He argued that this approach only perpetuated the idea that African Americans were inferior and could only gain acceptance through hard work and submission. Du Bois wrote, “Mr. Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things— First, political power, Second, insistence on civil rights, Third, higher education of Negro youth—and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South.” 3 Du Bois believed this approach only reinforced the idea that African Americans were second-class citizens and that true freedom could only be achieved through political and social
DuBois contrasts the 19th century ideas of author Booker T. Washington with the results they yielded, and various topics are consistent with the ideology in King’s letter. DuBois states that Washington said the black population had to give up political power, the insistence on civil rights, and a higher education of black youth in order to survive. To disprove that claim, his rebuttal was that it resulted in the “1. The disfranchisement of the Negro, 2. The legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro.
Thesis statement: The two great leaders in the black community debating about the issues that face the Negro race and Du Bois gave a compelling argument by using pathos, logos and ethos to create an essay that will appear to all readers. Outline: This essay will showcase the contradicting philosophies between W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Also, paying close attention to the different types of leadership between the two historic leaders in the black community. Both W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington contributed to and helped shape the future of African Americans.
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).
However Booker T. Washington believed in having a more skillful education, consisting of learning how to trade, mastering agriculture skills and more things one would need to get a job. However, W.E.B DuBois also put many efforts to achieve equal rights towards African Americans which Booker T Washington put on hold. Booker T Washington’s plan was to make it so that “Blacks would [have to] accept segregation and discrimination but their eventual acquisition of wealth and culture would gradually win for them the respect and acceptance of whites”. This vision that Booker T Washington had “practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro race”. W.E.B commented on this process saying it was an attempt, “to educate black boys and girls simply as servants and underlings.”
Booker T. Washington believed that in order to eventually achieve racial equality African
There are a few ways that Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois differ in their strivings for racial equality. The reason that these men differ in their views are pretty apparent and go back to the separate arguments that Jane Addams and Elizabeth Cady Stanton produced for women's rights in the 19th century. Jane Addams made some compromises in her push for women's suffrage to make her argument easier to swallow and take a small step towards equality. Stanton puts out her whole argument for total equality which made her argument hard for her generation to accept, but got all the problems on the table.