Compare And Contrast Dubois And Washington
Two men, two different sets of ideals, and yet despite their many disagreements, they accomplished tremendous advancements in the lives of the African American community. Both men worked unwaveringly against horrors of lynching and both strongly opposed racially motivated violence. Both DuBois and Washington can and were criticized for various aspects of their approaches, but it is an undeniable fact that they were both key figures in the advancement of African Americans, and their legacy and ideals are still visible even to this day. In this analysis, I will take an in-depth look at two of the most famous leaders of the black community and their two very different visions of the future. Although, both men shared many common ideas they sharply
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disagreed on strategies for both black social and economic progress. In the height of his career, Washington was one of the most, if not the most prominent black activists. But Washington's views on racial uplift for the masses were strongly criticized by Du Bois, as well as many people today, who believed that Washington's strategy would serve only to further perpetuate white oppression.
Washington the founder of both Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, used his incredibly keen political ability to gain a way in with the whites of both the North and the South. He convinced Southerners everywhere that his school had an education that would keep blacks participating in useful work that would benefit the entire community. His views about education are clearly seen in his writing as he said: “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” He promised blacks in the South that industrial education would give them the tools to have their own lands and businesses. He enthusiastically preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity, and even accommodation. He strongly urged African Americans to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. He believed in education in both industrial, farming skills as well as the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise, and thrift. This, he said, would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all strata of society. He greatly encouraged his African brothers and sister to make peace with their white neighbors as he said in his famous Atlanta Compromise Speech, “To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of preserving friendly relations with the southern white man who is their next-door neighbor, I would say: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” Cast it down, making friends in every manly way of the people of all races, by whom you are surrounded.”
Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia sometime in the mid-to-late 1850s, thanks to his incredible willpower Washington put himself through school and disputed all odds he graduated from Hampton in 1875 with high marks. Washington talks of this powerful determination in his book, Up from Slavery, as he states “I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.” It wasn’t until 1879, when he was chosen to speak at Hampton's graduation ceremonies, and offered a job teaching at Hampton that he got his first full-time teaching the position. Later in 1881, Washington was given the job to run the school of Tuskegee Normal. He unfalteringly traveled all over the countryside promoting the school and raising money. All the while reassuring whites that nothing in the Tuskegee program would be a threat to white supremacy or pose any economic competition to whites. Booker T. Washington was also a fervent believer in the resilience of the African American spirit, he believed that “You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.” Washington’s actions show that he truly thought that, even if African Americans did not have the same social status a white people they could still flourish in harmony with them.
On February 23, 1868, a man entered the world, a man whose path was destined to cross with that of Washington’s and like Washington would have a profound impact on the world around him, that man was William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, better known as W.E.B.
Du Bois. Unlike Washington, Du, Bois, freely attended school with whites and attend Fisk University. He was a fervent believer that it was important to attain a good education as he said: “Ignorance is a cure for nothing.” It was during this time that he started to take a strong look at the deep troubles of American racism. On the troubling effects of racism on the African America community he wrote in his, in his book, The Souls of Black Folk, “One ever feels his twoness, -- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” Du Bois entered Harvard University and in 1895 he became the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. And it was while he was working as a professor at Atlanta University, W.E.B. Du Bois very publicly opposed Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise," in which Washington had said that vocational education for blacks was more valuable to them than social advantages like higher education or political office. Du Bois strongly criticized Washington for not demanding equality for African Americans, as were granted to them by the 14th Amendment. He believed that the time for acceptance was now as he said in his book, The Souls of Black Folk, “Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes to the harvest and the playtime.” He also disagreed with Washington’s views on education. In stark contrast to
Washington-Du Bois believed that “The function of the university is not simply to teach breadwinning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a center of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.” Du Bois did not stop at simply talking or writing about injustices, he put his talk into action when in 1905 he and other black intellectuals founded a political group called Niagara. Though the group eventually dissolved a few years later, in 1909 several of its members and many of its aims were incorporated into a new organization which was known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Washington died in Tuskegee, Alabama, on November 14, 1915. W.E.B. Du Bois eventually split from the NAACP, but he never stopped safeguarding the rights of African Americans. Two men, two different sets of ideals. Yet, despite their radically different desires for the African American community they both accomplish so much during their perspective lifetimes, and although Washington and Du Bois, argued vehemently over issues I believe that their lives were both testaments to the strength of the African American spirt, and I am sure that both men would agree that the fight for a better life for African Americans was a cause worth fighting for.
disagreed on strategies for both black social and economic progress. In the height of his career, Washington was one of the most, if not the most prominent black activists. But Washington's views on racial uplift for the masses were strongly criticized by Du Bois, as well as many people today, who believed that Washington's strategy would serve only to further perpetuate white oppression.
Washington the founder of both Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, used his incredibly keen political ability to gain a way in with the whites of both the North and the South. He convinced Southerners everywhere that his school had an education that would keep blacks participating in useful work that would benefit the entire community. His views about education are clearly seen in his writing as he said: “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” He promised blacks in the South that industrial education would give them the tools to have their own lands and businesses. He enthusiastically preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity, and even accommodation. He strongly urged African Americans to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. He believed in education in both industrial, farming skills as well as the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise, and thrift. This, he said, would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all strata of society. He greatly encouraged his African brothers and sister to make peace with their white neighbors as he said in his famous Atlanta Compromise Speech, “To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of preserving friendly relations with the southern white man who is their next-door neighbor, I would say: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” Cast it down, making friends in every manly way of the people of all races, by whom you are surrounded.”
Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia sometime in the mid-to-late 1850s, thanks to his incredible willpower Washington put himself through school and disputed all odds he graduated from Hampton in 1875 with high marks. Washington talks of this powerful determination in his book, Up from Slavery, as he states “I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.” It wasn’t until 1879, when he was chosen to speak at Hampton's graduation ceremonies, and offered a job teaching at Hampton that he got his first full-time teaching the position. Later in 1881, Washington was given the job to run the school of Tuskegee Normal. He unfalteringly traveled all over the countryside promoting the school and raising money. All the while reassuring whites that nothing in the Tuskegee program would be a threat to white supremacy or pose any economic competition to whites. Booker T. Washington was also a fervent believer in the resilience of the African American spirit, he believed that “You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.” Washington’s actions show that he truly thought that, even if African Americans did not have the same social status a white people they could still flourish in harmony with them.
On February 23, 1868, a man entered the world, a man whose path was destined to cross with that of Washington’s and like Washington would have a profound impact on the world around him, that man was William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, better known as W.E.B.
Du Bois. Unlike Washington, Du, Bois, freely attended school with whites and attend Fisk University. He was a fervent believer that it was important to attain a good education as he said: “Ignorance is a cure for nothing.” It was during this time that he started to take a strong look at the deep troubles of American racism. On the troubling effects of racism on the African America community he wrote in his, in his book, The Souls of Black Folk, “One ever feels his twoness, -- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” Du Bois entered Harvard University and in 1895 he became the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. And it was while he was working as a professor at Atlanta University, W.E.B. Du Bois very publicly opposed Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise," in which Washington had said that vocational education for blacks was more valuable to them than social advantages like higher education or political office. Du Bois strongly criticized Washington for not demanding equality for African Americans, as were granted to them by the 14th Amendment. He believed that the time for acceptance was now as he said in his book, The Souls of Black Folk, “Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes to the harvest and the playtime.” He also disagreed with Washington’s views on education. In stark contrast to
Washington-Du Bois believed that “The function of the university is not simply to teach breadwinning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a center of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.” Du Bois did not stop at simply talking or writing about injustices, he put his talk into action when in 1905 he and other black intellectuals founded a political group called Niagara. Though the group eventually dissolved a few years later, in 1909 several of its members and many of its aims were incorporated into a new organization which was known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Washington died in Tuskegee, Alabama, on November 14, 1915. W.E.B. Du Bois eventually split from the NAACP, but he never stopped safeguarding the rights of African Americans. Two men, two different sets of ideals. Yet, despite their radically different desires for the African American community they both accomplish so much during their perspective lifetimes, and although Washington and Du Bois, argued vehemently over issues I believe that their lives were both testaments to the strength of the African American spirt, and I am sure that both men would agree that the fight for a better life for African Americans was a cause worth fighting for.