Booker T. Dubois Dbq

During the nineteenth and early twentieth century it was a dark period. It was an era of reconstruction for the African American communities. They were newly oppressed by disfranchisement and the discriminatory Jim Crow laws. Segregation was going on everywhere and there was no equality for blacks. Even through these times of trouble there were two dominant leaders in the African American community. Booker T. Washington was a well-known intellectual who was born an emancipated slave who became a self-made man. One could argue Washington was too practical. He believed that there was no way in the near term that whites would grant full equality to African-Americans, and therefore he should try to achieve what equality he could. Opposing him
Du Bois had the vision of every African American being treated with the same values as every other white citizen. He didn’t want to settle for what the whites wanted to give them. He wanted full equality and that’s what he put his mind towards. “Against this the Niagara Movement eternally protests. We will not be satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full manhood rights” (Du Bois). During his Niagara Movement speech Du Bois was passionate about his approach to these issues. He knew that one day all true Americans would be able to vote. No matter what skin color you were, you would be able to vote. He had such passion and eager drive to make this happen. His views were far different from Booker T’s. Booker T never believed that African Americans would have the same rights as all whites. Being a former slave he was happy with the progress he was seeing. He was okay with the few lynching’s, the racism and segregation in everyday life and working for someone else. His views were eye opening to the whites, as they too would go to his speeches and cheer him on. "After his introduction, when I arose to speak, there was considerable cheering in the audience, especially from the section of the room occupied by my own people” (Washington). In his Atlanta Exposition speech he addressed the Negro problem. The questions of what to do about the social and economic conditions of blacks and their relationships between the white in the south. This appealed to the white southerners because Washington promised that he would encourage blacks to embrace the manual labor. His views appealed to the white southerners because it would be another form of slavery that only required little pay. Booker T had a bigger audience because his way of thinking appealed to most whites and blacks. He had the image that blacks were not equal to the whites. He didn’t truly want freedom like Du Bois did. Du Bois