Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Term Paper

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He was opposed to Segregation and refused to accommodate the views of bigoted White Southerners. (Souls, 248).

Leadership in the African-American communities of the United States -- DuBois' took a more symbolic, elitist approach to leadership than Washington. His organizations, the Niagara Conference and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples, were started as small councils of influential leaders and citizens. The NAACP effects change primarily through legal challenges, public education, and political lobbying.

Reconstruction -- DuBois thought highly of the Freedman's Bureau system during the Reconstruction Era. He thought that such institutions were necessary to protect a vulnerable population from the irate Southern Whites. He even envisioned an expanded Freedman's Bureau "with a national system of Negro schools; a carefully supervised employment and labor office; a system of impartial protection before the regular courts; and such institutions for social betterment as savings-banks, land and building association, and social settlements." (Souls, 238)

Comparison

Both Washington and DuBois believed that education was the key to the advancement of African-Americans and both advocated a broad system of Negro common schools. Also, both were proud of their African-American heritage and thought that the Negro in America had a special destiny and place in America. That is, they did not believe that African-Americans were any less American than Whites.

Role of Class and Background

Washington believed that DuBois was an elitist who did not understand the conditions and challenges that most African-Americans faced, of struggling sharecroppers in the South. It is true that DuBois may have underestimated the great economic challenges facing African-Americans in the South. Washington, on the other hand, was from the class of newly liberated slaves who had to find a new way to live in the world.

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It is understandable that Washington would be concerned with how his people would get enough to eat. This is why Washington's program prioritized economic self-sufficiency through industrial education.

DuBois came from a very privileged, enlightened Northeastern Liberal background where he was told that he could be anything he wanted to be. This is largely the message he would convey to the African-American community. DuBois understood the intellectual basis of Western Civilization and the philosophical grounding of the United States. He knew that there was no way that you could deny African-Americans equal political rights without jeopardizing the core philosophical principles of the United States, and of Western Civilization in general.

Relationship with Communities

Washington was very well-connected politically. He had relationships with African-American religious organizations, local political organizations, and businesses. He also had relationships with influential White politicians and industrialists in the North. These relationships helped Washington secure the funding and political support he needed for his programs.

DuBois had relationships with academics, humanists, and other intellectuals. Later, he developed relationships with more radical African-American leaders. However, DuBois was not as connected at the ground-level as Washington, that is, with local African-American churches and community organizations.

Conclusion

W.E.B. DuBois was a world-class intellect, whose influence stretches far beyond the field of race relations. Because of this, the light of DuBois' legacy may shine a little brighter than Booker T. Washington's. However, the achievements of W.E.B. DuBois might not have been possible without the groundwork laid by Booker T. Washington......

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