Booker T Washington Research Paper

Booker T. Washington was an African American spokesman and leader. W.E.B. Du Bois was also an African American leader, and he was a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). On September 8, 1895, Booker T. Washington gave his speech, “Atlanta Compromise,” where he talked about equality and vocational education for blacks. 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois responded to Booker T. Washington in disagreement in his book The Souls of Black Folk. Washington spoke, while Du Bois wrote. Booker T. Washington advocated compromise with whites because he thought the economic advancement of blacks was more important, while W.E.B. Du Bois advocated agitation because he thought that equality and civil rights for blacks were

Washington stated, “It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.” Washington believed that people could succeed in labor or industrial jobs just as much as those who gained a higher education. Speaking to the majority of whites at the Atlanta Exposition, Washington pleaded for them to work with blacks, and they would “find that they will buy your surplus land, make the waste places in your fields, and run your factories.” Washington’s strategy to speak to the majority of whites was to ease their minds about blacks seeking economic and racial progress. He thought this route was better because once blacks and whites established relationships and intertwined their “industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life.” they would work together to become one community, and this was crucial.