Comparison Of W. E. B. Dubois And Booker T. Washington

After the Civil War and during the reconstruction time period for African Americans, the discussion of abolition and accommodation began. Even being free, blacks did not have equal rights to the white man and were not free from discrimination. Both the white and black populations split and argued for equality through submission or through demands. Booker T. Washington wrote the “Atlanta Compromise” to portray his ideas that the black population needs to submit to the white population to gain their equalities later on in time. Abolitionists such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass disagreed with Washington’s ideas and instead wanted equal rights to earn their place in society. Booker T. Washington proposed the “Atlanta Compromise”

E. B. DuBois was a white civil rights leader during the nineteenth century. In 1903, DuBois critiqued Booker T. Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise” in an essay called “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others” within his book, The Souls of Black Folk . DuBois asked for political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education for African Americans. Booker T. Washington’s speech was looked at by many and to the radicals it looked like a “complete surrender of the demand for civil and political equality”(DuBois) for the entire African American population. Abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. DuBois disagreed with the idea of accommodation and submission. The “fire of African freedom still burned in the veins of the slaves”(DuBois) and the “Atlanta Compromise” caused a rage of anger in the black people. Blacks heard of revolts in other countries where discriminated populations demanded their civil rights from oppressors and it inspired the African Americans to start a civil rights era. Washington believed that his speech would help his people gain their civil rights rather than demanding for equality but many realized that Washington’s way was making people lose their rights they already achieved such as voting, working, and moving as freemen. DuBois uses lists of three to help get his points across that Washington’s ideas were ridiculous and caused even more troubles for the African Americans than there already were. Washington asked blacks to give up