Booker T. Washington: A Different Path To Achieving Equality

Different Paths to Achieving Equality Booker T. Washington once said “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.” Booker T. was born a slave in Houston, Texas on March 1st, 1965. He believed it would be best to gain rights for African Americans over time. But an opposing civil rights activist, W.E.B. Du Bois, born in a more tolerant community in Great Barrington Massachusetts on February 23rd, 1868, wanted to achieve rights for the African American people as soon as possible. Booker T. and Du Bois had some similarities: they both wanted equality for the African American people, but they also had some differences, like Du Bois wanted to fight for them every single day as hard as he could, non-violently. But, Booker T. wanted to show the white people that they were loyal and hard-working before receiving their rights.

Washington wanted African Americans to continue to do the same work that white people did, but separate because most people were still very unsure about combining races. For example, separated sections in factories, however doing the same tasks. He wanted this to continue because he thought if people acted right away, it would create more violence (Booker T. Washington). Also, “in 1900, Washington formed the National Negro Business League to promote the economic development of African Americans,” and, in his autobiography, he wrote about how African Americans should accept their unequal position in society temporarily before gaining their rights through civil rights cases (“Booker T. Washington”). Overall, he believed African Americans should improve in their jobs so that the others would find them more trustworthy before fights for