Washington's Dreams Of Equality example essay topic

313 words
Finally, in Washington's conclusion, he strays from prior accomadationist approaches and speaks more in an integrationist manner. This is seen when he says, .".. let us pray God, will come... in a determination to administer absolute justice" (684). As an accomadationist, Washington was more concerned with pleasing the whites than establishing equality immediately. At the very end of his speech though, Washington, pleaded for an immediate ending to the injustices that his race had been facing signifying a resemblance to King's plea for equality.

Similar to Washington, Dr. King pleaded to the American people for a quick ending to the injustices and inequality that his race had been facing. One hundred years after slavery was abolished, America was at a cross-road in its history, it could either quickly resolve the racial discrimination or it could continue to ignore the black race which in turn would lead to the demise of our great nation. King recognized this crossroad, and alluded to it when he said, "There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is guaranteed his citizenship rights" (1424). Like Washington, King wanted an immediate ending to discrimination for without one our nation would be plagued with a hostile racial division that could very well have led another war.

Despite a time separation of nearly seventy years, both Booker T. Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held many of the same beliefs regarding racial integration. Both men knew that their race was suffering from a continuous injustice (discrimination), which was preventing them from the endless opportunities that other American citizens benefited from. The only difference between King's integrationist ideals and Washington's accomadationist ideals, is that given the time period Washington's dreams of equality were just that, dreams, where as King's vision of equality was much closer to a reality.