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

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois have been prominent figures of black history since the beginning of their careers. Both men are known for attending to issues of their community, as well as leaving a permanent mark on the question as to how Blacks should achieve equality in America. Although both of them fought for a common cause, each of them approached the question differently. Washington endorsed a slow process of independence which focused more on economic issues while DuBois strived for a much broader spectrum of freedom, insisting on full civil rights in all areas. One could even say that their different points of view on the subject divided the Black community into two different camps. After reviewing the life and the work of both men one can come to the conclusion that W.E.B DuBois, although the more radical, and the less preferred of the two, made contributions far more significant to the advancement of Black people than Booker T. Washington. Their differing points of view and the type of contributions they brought to the Black community were largely influenced by their upbringing. Booker Taliaferro Washington was born in 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia. He spent the first nine years of his life as a slave to James Burroughs along with his mother and siblings. In his duration as a slave he was too young to do any heavy work so he worked as a delivery boy and did maintenance work in the Burroughs’s dining room. Although his master was kinder than most masters were, Washington was still exposed to the His last years of slavery were during the Civil war in which majority of the Burroughs men fought, which left the plantation without its masters. This might serve as an explanation as to why he recalled the days of his childhood with much joy. Despite the fact that his bed has always been a dirt floor, his meals nothing but scarps, he never insulted his masters, he was even grateful to them. The life of slavery had been the only life he had known, in a sense the thought process of the ideal slave had been instilled upon him, which is why he never antagonized his masters or his overseers. This mindset of obedience and camaraderie towards Whites laid down the foundation for his approach to race issues. Unlike Washington, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born a free man, on February 23 1868, in Great Barrington Massachusetts. Born into a high class family, he was able to experience freedom in a way that many other Blacks did not. Once his father ran out of money they moved in with his mother’s family, although their economic standing was not as high as that of his paternal family, his maternal side, the Burghardt, occupied a position of respect within their community . Throughout his childhood he worked in order to support his family, and even more so when his mother could no longer work due to a stroke. Du Bois’ worked had the opportunity to attend an integrated school which allowed him to compete with Whites academically without fear. This open and free environment in which DuBois lived allowed him to expand his horizons much more than Washington was allowed to. His experience being free both legally and academically speaking contributed to the manner in which he handled issues of race throughout his career. The debate between these two men was something of …show more content…
"Of the Training of Black Men." In The Souls of Black Folk, Section 6. Chicago, IL: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903. Accessed March 14, 2017. http://academic.eb.com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu:2048/levels/collegiate/additionalcontent/primarysources?id=18535&path=/primary_source/gutenberg/PGCC_classics/soulb.htm
Washington, Booker T. The Fruits of Industrial Training. CA: Institute Press, 1910. Accessed March 14, 2017. http://academic.eb.com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu:2048/levels/collegiate/additionalcontent/primarysources?id=15117&path=/primary_source/gutenberg/PGCC_classics/indutrain.htm.

Secondary
Keller, Kristin Thoennes. Booker T. Washington: innovative educator. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2007.
Moore, Jacqueline M. Booker T. Washington, W.E.B DuBois, and the Struggle for Racial Uplift. Vol. 1. Washington, DE: Scholarly Resources INC., 2003.
Schwartz, Bernard. Civil Rights. Vol. 2. Statutory history of the United States. Chelsea House Publishers, 1923.
Sullivan, Patricia. Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement. New York, NY: The New Press,