Compare And Contrast Booker T. Washington And W. E. B. Dubois

War of Words - Level 1: Booker and the Bois A war does not necessarily need to be a large-scale conflict with guns, violence and hostile military operations, as by land, sea or air. A war can still occur without the bloodshed and death; all a war needs is a form of conflict. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, a war of words occurred. During this time, two significant leaders of the black community rose in popularity and rivalry with one another. These two men were Booker T. Washington of Virginia and William Edward Burghardt “W.E.B.” Du Bois of Massachusetts. The Civil War had just ended and African Americans were facing discrimination in the country. Both men wanted equality for African Americans but had different

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois are similar because they both fought for African American equality, but they differed in their ways to achieve equality; Washington fought for a long-term solution and Du Bois wanted equality immediately.

These two leaders of the late nineteenth century had near opposite lives growing up but both ending up fighting for the same thing. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in 1856 which delayed his educational career. “Booker's first exposure to education was from the outside of school house near the plantation; looking inside, he saw children his age sitting at desks and reading books. He wanted to do what those children were doing, but he was a slave, and it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write” (Biography.com Editors). When the Civil War ended, his mother taught him how to read and write because it was no longer illegal. As Washington grew older he became more invested in his education and found himself at Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute. Washington believed African Americans should accept discrimination for the time being and each individual should

In 1895, Booker T. Washington delivered a speech called the “Atlanta Compromise.” Washington expressed his political views and beliefs at this speech. One of his beliefs were that African Americans should focus on working and progressing economically. “Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the top instead of the bottom, that a seat in Congress or the State Legislature was more sought than real-estate or industrial skill” (Washington, Booker. T). Washington is saying that after the Civil War, African Americans made the mistake of going to Congress when the correct move would’ve been focusing on vocational activities. In Booker T. Washington’s overall plan, African Americans would gain economic strength by working jobs rather than fighting the oppression. After a while, he believed that the white people would gain respect for them and stop the discrimination. This opinion is different than Washington’s most influential public critic, W.E.B. Du Bois. In 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois published an essay in his collection The Souls of Black Folk directed at Washington. “Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission … This is an age of unusual economic development, and Mr. Washington’s programme naturally