Booker T Washington Vs Dubois Analysis

After slavery was ended in the late 1800’s, many African Americans were tasked with the burden of integrating into a society that most of them only knew as servants. This posed a fork in the road for the common African American. Do they assimilate as quietly as possible and learn how to contribute to the American society and economy as a working man? Or do they continue their everlasting fight for even truer equality in America by fighting for voting rights, civil rights, and a higher education opportunity for them and their children? Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois both argued their views on the dilemma that faced their people, with Booker aligning more with the first question and Du Bois associating himself with the second, while refuting Washington’s vision. While opinions different, one could say they both wanted the best for their African brothers and sisters in the New South. Booker T. Washington was a largely celebrated leader for black civil rights in late 1800’s. His address to the white business leaders at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta was where he laid out his theory for black success in the New South and America as a whole.

The main difference in their approaches was how they interpreted the question of how they should go about the process of integration. Washington was very simple in his advice to his people, suggesting that they go to a vocational school for work education rather than a college for a higher education, and act submissive in the face of adversity. Du Bois was so hard-set on things like civil and voting rights that he called out another black leader in Washington, who he did not thing went far enough and was too complacent in his demands. Both leaders just wanted the best future for their people in America, they just thought there were different ways