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. Regardless, they were able to aid in ending discrimination and received equal standing in education, labor, acquiring of land, etc.. If it had only been Du Bois fighting for equality, then he would have achieved the fight for equality sooner. On the contrary, Du Bois only provided one view to how African Americans were being treated; Washington had a friendlier approach.
On the other hand, DuBois was born after the Civil War in the northern states and was the first to graduate black to graduate from Harvard. Being born after the Civil War in the north he does not have much exposure to harsh actions by the white than Washington. Being a Harvard graduate, he will have a bias to the elites since he is an elite
Langston Hughes was known for being one of the most favored, if not the most favored, African-American poet and short story writers of the twentieth century. He was commemorated for being a people’s poet, “his life’s work was about bringing people together socially, politically, and artistically” (Shawn Alexander, 42). Hughes was influential for writing about the everyday struggles, racial injustices, and dreams of the African-American men and women during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s. This period in history was a time of vast changes and explorations for African-Americans. He gave the people hope during a time when they needed it.
He rather than work on “self-improvement rather than long range social change (Brinkley).” W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist and historian and one of the first African-Americans to receive a degree from Harvard. Du Bois accused Washington of limiting segregation and encouraging whites. He later on encouraged that talented black children have no less than university educations and professions. He fought that blacks should fight for there civil rights and make it known that they deserve more.
Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois both argued their views on the dilemma that faced their people, with Booker aligning more with the first question and Du Bois associating himself with the second, while refuting Washington’s vision. While opinions different, one could say they both wanted the best for their African brothers and sisters in the New South. Booker T. Washington was a largely celebrated leader for black civil rights in late 1800’s. His address to the white business leaders at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta was where he laid out his theory for black success in the New South and America as a whole.
Blacks have served and died in defense of their adopted homeland. The individuals that make up the whole of the black population, have offered up their talents to forward the cause of peace and prosperity in America. Langston hughes is a famous american poet, who emphasises on the topic of black inequality in most of his works.besides owning the title of a beloved American poet, Hughes considered himself a social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. Hughes innovated the then-new literary art form called jazz
W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk (1903) is a non-fiction pastiche of autobiography, sociology, and philosophy about race in the Twentieth century. Du Bois focus is on the problem of color in America; while introducing the concept of the double veil consciousness. Double veil consciousness as Du Bois defines is the “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eye’s of others,” (page 694). James Weldon Johnson’s novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) tells the story of young, gifted protagonist who figures out he has “negro blood” in him.
African-American historian W.E.B Dubois illustrated how the Civil War brought the problems of African-American experiences into the spotlight. As a socialist, he argued against the traditional Dunning interpretations and voiced opinions about the failures and benefits of the Civil War era, which he branded as a ‘splendid failure’. The impacts of Civil War era enabled African-Americans to “form their own fraternal organizations, worship in their own churches and embrace the notion of an activist government that promoted and safeguarded the welfare of its citizens.” Thus black people developed a social consensus and reached levels of social integration once hindered by the horrors of slavery. However, in his book Black Reconstruction in America (1935), Dubois observed how racial divisions amongst white and black laborers prevented them uniting against the white property-owning individuals. Ultimately, he argues
In the Soul of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois wisely stated that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” In this essay, I will attempt to argue that Du Bois assertion is fundamentally correct, and that the problem of the twenty-first century remains the color line. To make this argument, I firstly will contend that although since the time of Du Bois, America has taken great strides in advancing equality under the law, it is also true that the legacy of slavery remains deep and strong. In fact, many related crimes to America’s original sin, including redlining, domestic terrorism and poll taxes have compounded over time. To highlight that the problem of the color line is still deeply relevant, so much so that it is unavoidable in our modern society, I will first discuss police brutality.
“[…] the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second sight in this American world – a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world” (Du Bois 8). W.E.B Du Bois an African-American sociologist, writer and activist, describes in detail the moment he realised that his blackness was a problem in modern society. In his essay Of Our Spiritual Strivings Du Bois formulates the concept of the veil, describing the problematic African American’s experience of having to look at “one’s self through the eyes of another, [and] of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (8), which resultantly “yields him no true self-consciousness” (8). Thus a twoness emerges, “two souls, two