Similarities Between Web Dubois And Booker T Washington

The Journey of African American Rights in the late 19th century

As many know freedom was supposed to be granted to slaves in America after the Civil war, but what many do not know is the road it took to get equal rights for the freedmen after the war is still going on. The rights these freedmen thought they were getting did not happen, and it is taking people who spoke out against the differences between the white men and the African Americans. Two of these people were Booker T Washington and W.E.B DuBois. Now these men wanted the same thing but they came at the problem from different directions on how to solve them. Let us start with Booker T, he was a man who valued common labor as much as education. Now he valued these because he believed

They also believed in what they said for the African American Community to do. Booker T was positive that by tilling the field, not speaking out, and being accepting of the racism for awhile was the right way to go. This is shown in Booker T’s Atlanta Compromise speech where he says “As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sick-bed of your mothers and fathers, and often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future, in our humble way, we shall stand by you with a devotion no foreigner can approach, ready to lay down our lives if need be, in defense of yours, interlacing our industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life with yours,” (Booker T Washington 4). This shows that he truly believed that given enough time the racism would die, and the white men would consider the African Americans equals, they just had to do what the white men said. He was like this because as I wrote earlier he was born a slave, and this means that he had been raised to believe that he was not as smart, and important as the white men. He also learned that if you spoke out against the injustice you could get yourself, and your family and friends killed. Now W.E.B was also confident in what he said which was it was time for the racism to stop and for the equality to begin. Now this was because W.E.B was tired of being treated as

Booker T believed in being passive, and not being vocal about the change you wanted where as W.E.B believed it was time to stand up, and fight for they deserved. W.E.B shows this in his book The Souls of Black Folk where he states “Mr.Washington’s programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races…. Mr.Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things,-- First, Political Power, Second, Insistence on civil rights, Third, higher education of Negro youth,” (W.E.B DuBois 3-6). This shows that though they wanted the same thing W.E.B believed that the way that Booker T wanted the African Americans to get equality meant that the African Americans were giving up their rights as citizens. With this philosophy that they were losing rights W.E.B led nonviolent protests, and he joined the NAACP. Whereas his counterpart Booker T believed that by keeping your head down, and not protesting that they would eventually get equal rights. However even when doing this the white men would still be racist to the African Americans by lynching them, and blaming them for stuff like robbing a store if they couldn’t find the people who stole from the store. This is what sparked W.E.B not believing in what Booker T had said they should do. Due to this disbelief this is what cause the differences between the two people who wanted the same thing for their