Similarities Between Web Dubois And Booker T Washington

Differing Views on the Advancement of the Negro Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were both leaders in the black community during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. These men had very different views on how African Americans should advance in society, the role and kind of education that would best assist African Americans, as well as the importance of race relations with whites.

After slavery ended there was a long period of time where blacks were not treated fairly in the South and they aspired to move north to find some form of equality. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery and was a slave for the first six years of his life. He saw and experienced the struggle of ex slaves transitioning out of slavery

He used the phrase, “Cast down your buckets” in the Atlanta Compromise Speech of 1895 to encourage blacks to stay where they are and grow from there. He was very smart in the words and messages he used during the speech. He knew not only that white people were at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, but the exposition also included rich, white abolitionists and business people. He understood that these people were to be the ones who would help with the advancement of the black race (Harlan). W.E.B. Dubois on the contrary, believed that the reason that the african american race had not advanced yet was because there was not any black leaders to start the advancement of blacks. More specifically, a certain group of selected black leaders who would “be made leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among their people” (The Talented Tenth). He believed that whites were not going to help significantly in the fight for equal rights and blacks should just rely on their own

Washington and W.E.B Du Bois not only had very different views on racial relations but they also had very different education backgrounds and because of that they had very different views on what education should look like for blacks. Washington never had complete early education as he was born a slave and his love for learning was not recognized until after he was about nine years old. Washington believed that blacks must first learn how to do jobs that will give them what they need to prosper economically before the African-American race can consider prospering socially and politically. When Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee University, he found that in many students “a seat in Congress or the state legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skill,” (Atlanta Compromise Speech of 1895). Washington stressed to his students that learning industrial skill in order to promote economic growth was the only way to advance the African American race (Newman). W.E.B Du Bois had much more radical beliefs on how African Americans should be educated. He believed that, “ Education must not simply teach work—it must teach Life,” with this phrase he also believed in the idea that limiting blacks to one profession or type of profession will not create any upward social mobility for blacks. If they know only to plow fields or work in a factory who will represent African Americans in non-industrial settings. Du Bois argued harshly against Washington’s method of