Civil Rights Movement

History Coursework
Ms Qurrey

  Leading figures during the Civil Rights movement played important pivotal roles both in the 19th and 20th century. They were, in the eyes of the blacks, the living embodiments of the civil rights movement. With this, they were the people who began to help the blacks to take action for them in order for advancement. Booker T Washington, one such prominent leader came from a very poor background, and his own life story illustrated that of the blacks’ involved in the civil rights movement. The wife of a mine owner, where Washington worked as a child, wanted Washington to have a good education and in 1872 became a student at Hampton Agricultural Institute. He then went onto becoming a teacher and came onto the stage when he founded the Tuskegee Negro National Institute. This was done in order for helpless black people to get good education as well as increasing the prospects because of this academic and vocational education. Booker T Washington’s prominence was instrumental in the early Civil Rights movement. Furthermore, Booker T believed in accomdationism; the belief that the best way for blacks to survive was to accept their status within society and make the most of their economic opportunities. This was similar to Martin Luther King to some extent as he did also think that the blacks should accept the status quo to some extent. Washington was further shown as an accomdationism due to his “Atlanta Compromise” speech which outlined his main aims and visions for African Americans in US society. Washington’s emphasis on education being taken to the rising of African Americans expectations did lead to a great deal of criticism, especially by William Du Bois.
  William Du Bois had a very different background to other leaders at the time. He had won a scholarship from Fisk University in Nashville. Also, he was the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University. During summer vacations, he used to teach in country schools... [continues]

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