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

The Scar of America’s History: A Solution From Two Perspectives

“Racism is man’s gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason” (Abraham Joshua Heschel). Your skin color does not represent the type of person you are, so why be judged upon just that. No one can chose what color skin they will be born with, and most importantly what culture they will obtain to. Booker T. Washington was a black, middle-aged educator that believes in achieving change through patience, and tolerating your current situation in order to achieve long-term change. On the other hand, W.E.B. DuBois believes in more of an aggressive approach and directly attacking the issue at hand. Both of these man believed the current situation African Americans

Both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois both believe that African Americans should have more rights. However, Booker T. believes in accepting your situation in order to earn long-term freedom, whereas W.E.B. DuBois believes in standing up for your rights and fighting for equality.

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois both believed that African Americans deserved to be treated with more equality and given more rights. Booker T. Washington was born a slave, so he had experienced unfair treatment as an African American in the past. On the other hand, W.E.B. DuBois is a white man that had never experienced first hand the unfair treatment and lack of equality that

and W.E.B. did not agree on how equality should be earned. Booker T. had some personal experience with slavery and manual labor, so he believes more in embracing your situation rather than fighting to change it. He thinks that it is a good idea to accept discrimination temporarily not to give the aggressor power, but to wait for the right time to change the situation. He knew how dangerous it was to speak up and fight back, considering he lived as a slave his entire childhood. If you want change, he shows through his writing that fighting “fire with fire” will only create more fire. Booker T. knows from being a slave that is dangerous to stand up for yourself, and with lynching being a popular entertainment event, he concludes that it is not a great time to speak up. While Booker T. is breaking down, in his opinion, the best way to gain equality for African Americans he analyzes the how labor can be made into an equal task when he shares, “No one can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem” (Washington). This statement grasps the concept of doing the best with what you’ve got. He is trying to say that there is just as much pride in working to help the country, as writing a few words on a piece of paper because you went to school as a kid and know how to spell. W.E.B. completely contrasts this philosophy because he believes that Booker T. didn’t truly do anything to improve equality. He observes the effects of