Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Du Bois: Who Was "Right"?

The late 1800s brought many demands for social reform in America, such as woman's suffrage, alcohol abolitionism, improvements for working conditions, etc. However, one of the most important reforms came from one of the longest-suppressed groups in American history: the African-Americans. Though often eclipsed by worker union strikes and the industrial revolution, the late 19th century marked the years in which the cries for African-American equality began to rise up in the throats of many across the country. The path to achieving this goal would be paved by two important, yet clashing figures: Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois.

In 1856, Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia to an enslaved mother and unknown white father. He had always harbored a fascination for learning and reading, but being born African-American, he was forced to spend most of his time carrying sacks of grain. However, when he got a job as a houseboy in 1866, his employer was so impressed by his intelligence that she sent him to school for one hour a day. Washington loved education so much that by 1872, he walked 500 miles to earn a scholarship to Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute in Virginia. He graduated with high honors.

Washington was later recommended by one of his teachers at Hampton to run the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, a newly founded "colored" school. He soon developed the curriculum and environment to become one of the leading schools in the country.

It was at Tuskegee where Washington began to preach his views on civil rights. He openly, yet reluctantly, accepted racial segregation, believing that blacks were not equal to whites until they built themselves up to be politically, socially, and economically equal. His most famous speech supporting his point was the "Atlanta Compromise". In it, Washington declared, “In all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”

In 1868, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born a "mulatto" in Massachusetts. There, he was warmly supported by his peers and educators in his studies. However, when he left for college at Fisk University located in Tennessee, he began to first experience discrimination as well as the resentful effects of Jim Crow laws. After graduating Fisk, he went on to become the first African-American to achieve a Ph. D. from Harvard University in 1895.

He went on to work at Atlanta University as well as publish his book The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study in 1899. In this case study, he brought public attention to the term "talented tenth", which emphasized the view that a tenth of the African-American population will rise up and lead the rest of the race to glory.

Du Bois strongly opposed Washington after listening to his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech. Rising in national popularity, he publicly argued that blacks deserved the same political, social, and economic rights as whites did, and Washington was therefore betraying his race by not believing that they were equal. Du Bois argued, "One hesitates, therefore, to criticize a life which beginning with so little, has done so much. And yet the time is come when one may speak in all sincerity and utter courtesy of the mistakes and shortcomings of Mr. Washington's career as well as of his triumphs, without being captious or envious, and without forgetting that it is easier to do ill than well in the world."

It is evident that these opposing opinions on this issue stemmed from the environments in which both men were raised. Because Du Bois was raised in a non-discriminatory, educationally nurturing environment, he was taught to believe that blacks were always intelligently equal to whites. Contrastingly, Washington was raised in an environment where he had to work around lack of resources, discrimination, and caucasian power to achieve his success, so he inferred from his own methods that it was easier to independently build himself up before heading out into the world.

Both men were of extreme importance to the culture of the civil rights movement. While this movement would not truly begin to take off until 1954, these contrasting viewpoints contributed to the strategies African-Americans would use for the next century to gain full citizen rights. Washington encouraged a more cautious method, avoiding possible risks of conflict.  Du Bois, however, commanded a more aggressive stance, demanding immediate full citizen rights to blacks. In a sense, both of these methods were used to achieve the ultimate goal. Following Washington's argument, African-Americans over the first half of the 20th century would socially, economically, and politically build themselves up as a group in America and achieve enough power to truly propel the Civil Rights Movement. Similarly, those of the 1950-1960s Civil Rights Movement also imitated Du Bois' demands for immediate equality.

Though they spent the rest of their lives arguing over the solution to this issue, both Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois ultimately worked together to lay the foundation for African-American equality in America.


WEB Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

Sources
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/39/
http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924
http://www.biography.com/people/booker-t-washington-9524663
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/booker-t-washington