W.E.B. Du Bois And Booker T Washington example essay topic

In the late 19th century, there were two men with different points of views on how to improve the status of African Americans. These two men were W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. They were two great leaders of the black community, but disagreed on strategies for black social and economic progress. With their different backgrounds and points of views, they should have worked together to improve African American status in the late 19th century.

Their tactics alone could not have worked well. There would have been a problem or disagreement, because not all of the African Americans thought the same way they did. This essay will compare and contrast the different ideas of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, and explain why their combined ideas would have been a better approach. Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia, but later moved to West Virginia after emancipation.

He studied at the Hampton Institute and taught an upgraded school and experimented briefly with the study of law and the ministry. In 1881, he founded the Tuskegee Normal and the Industrial Institute on the Hampton model. The school taught the students in academic subjects, but focused in areas of carpentry, masonry, agriculture, cooking, and other basic skills. Washington's achievements made him an influential leader.

He even dined with President Roosevelt and met with him regularly to discuss racial issues. Washington encouraged African Americans to make friends in any manner they can with other races around them, mainly the Americans. He believed that by doing this, African Americans could be accepted as equals and earn the trust of White men. He compared this method to the casting of a bucket in the middle of the ocean.

He recommended that most African Americans should learn to dignify and justify common labor, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life. He believed that they should start at the bottom of life, and not at the top. Washington thought that African Americans should assume their political rights slowly and naturally. He did believe that they should be able to vote though.

He thought that it would help them practice self-governing and influence them by those of intelligence and of character. Even with great ideas and plans, Washington found himself confronted by many opposing African Americans, one of which was W.E.B. Du Bois. He indeed admired Washington, but strongly disagreed with his tactics. Du Bois graduated from Fisk University and received his Ph. D. from Harvard in 1895.

From 1897 to 1910 he taught at Atlanta University, where here he devoted himself to sociological investigations of the condition of African Americans. He argued that the only appropriate way to deal with disfranchisement was to demand equality and to fight for it. In 1905, he founded the Niagara Movement, which in 1909 merged with the new National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Du Bois believed that African Americans, like all races, would be saved by men. He discovered that it would be a problem to educate them because of the Talented Tenth. It was the problem of developing the best of his race to guide everyone else away from the worst of his race and of other races.

He recommended that they would be college-bred, much like a group leader who will set the ideals of the community, direct its thoughts, and heads the social movements. He compared these characteristics to those of a preacher. According to Du Bois, there was a danger in training African Americans in technical skills. He believed that they would only produce artisans, but not men. Both Washington and Du Bois had dreams and visions, motivating them to set a higher standard for African Americans to improve their status in America. Washington's views was like a "melting pot".

He wanted all races to become friends and progress slowly, not forcing anything. He wanted unity among the races, instead of living individually amongst each other. He probably received much negative crit ism about unifying with those of different races and color. For example, Du Bois did not want to take things slowly. He wanted progression as soon as he could get it. He wanted to train others in skills, while receiving education in manhood.

He wanted to prove his race worthy to live as equals with the Americans. Many other probably disagreed with him, complaining about how it would be impossible to progress and become equals to Americans in such a short amount of time. This is why it would be best for Washington and Du Bois to work together. Their arguments alone are not sufficient. The people who oppose Washington are those who support Du Bois, and those who oppose Du Bois are those who support Washington.

To avoid opposition, they should become a team to contribute both of their ideas to make an agreement of how to approve African American status in a way that will work on both sides.