Mr. Cleary
ELA8H, period 7
11/12/13
"Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B Dubois"
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Dubois were two famous African American leaders during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were both activists and wanted blacks to have an education; they also wanted to end discrimination towards blacks. These leaders both wrote great speeches which clearly specified what they thought was right for African Americans. Even though Washington and Dubois focused on the same social, political and economic issues, they strongly disagreed on strategies of achieving their goal of equality.
The first African American leader that changed America forever was Booker T. Washington. Booker T. was one of America 's greatest African American leaders who believed that blacks deserved to be equal. Booker T. mainly focused on education, he wanted blacks to concentrate on their education and not equality. He believed that if blacks mainly focused on getting equality, than blacks are wasting their time because racism and hatred will always be a part of everyday life from now and even in the future for all different kinds of races, cultures and religious beliefs. Booker T. wanted blacks to have something called "Industrial Education", and this certain type of education provided the skills needed for jobs that were available to the majority of African Americans. Since he was mainly focusing on blacks in the south, he wanted blacks to
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master and be advanced at agriculture and farming skills. Booker T. stated that overtime, whites will see that blacks have responsibility and commitment of being an American citizen. This will earn respect and equality from whites and accepted as citizens of the United States of America.
Booker T. Washington was recognized as being a great speaker. He gave many motivational speeches to black people saying not to let whites control them because as American citizens you are free to do whatever you want. He