TERM PAPER
Life of African Americans in the period after the civil war was
stimulatingly difficult. Among the host of challenges were the Black codes
which made their life no better than it was before the civil war. The Congress
promised to emancipate African Americans from slavery, but it appeared as if
blacks were still deprived of their basic rights. They still did not achieve the
status equal to that of the whites. During this time of political unrest two
prominent African American spokespersons, Booker T. Washington and
W.E.B Du bois arose and put forward their views about how this racial
conflict could be ended and the blacks and whites could be united. They both
strived real hard to help blacks achieve recognition of the civil and political
promised by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution.
They even wanted blacks to rise out of poverty. Although their final goals
were the same, the route that they took to it differed drastically. Du Bois
could be categorized as a person who was more liberal while Booker T.
Washington chose to take the more conservative path. Knowing the
differences between Washington’s and W.E.B Du Bois’s ideas as an African
American living in the postwar south, I would follow Du Bois as his views
were more satisfying and would prove to be a more effective way to pursue
the goals of achieving recognition of the civil and political rights promised by
the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments and also to life the blacks out
of poverty.
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois were people with conflicting
personalities. Washington’s approach was more moderate as he seemed to
be averse to rapid change. He believed in order for blacks to gain complete
respect from the whites, they would have to live a life quite similar to the
one they led in the period before the civil war. They would have to perform
the same menial tasks. He believed that in this manner as soon as the
economic condition of the South improved, blacks would be given equal
status by everyone.
Booker T. Washington put forward a program of industrial
education, conciliation of the south , and submission and silence as to civil
and political rights ( W.E.B Du Bois , 31.) He believed that industrial
education was extremely important because it was a way by which students
could acquire knowledge as well as skill while working and earning money. It
also gave students confidence and moral independence. Mr. Booker T.
Washington wanted African Americans to compromise by giving up their
civil and political rights . Adjustment and submission of blacks was
represented by his program. (W.E.B Du Bois, 37.) Since he was a
conservative , he desired that the African Americans also give up the ideas of
political power , civil rights and higher education. He tried to divert their
attention to things such as earning money to support their families,
reconcilement of Southern states etc.
On the other hand, W.E.B. Du Bois held views that were in
contradiction to those of Booker T. Washington. Du Bois chose a more liberal
path to achieve his goals. According to him African Americans should have
used any means available to resolve the equality and cultural problems. He
had complete confidence in the ability of African Americans and did not
consider them inferior to whites and believed that they could govern
themselves. Unlike Booker T. Washington whose program for
emancipation focused more on work and money, W.E.B Du Bois aimed for
more spiritualistic and honorary things. The period of time before W.E.B Du
Bois came into the limelight, the blacks had suffered a great deal from the
whites. They had been disfranchised, not been given the right to higher
education and were considered inferior to whites. Du Bois wanted to change
all this completely and thus his ideas appeared to be more radical and
demanding. as compared to those of Booker T. Washington.
W.E.B Du Bois was an elitist who believed it was the intelligence and
smartness of the African Americans that had help elevate the masses and the
sole obstacles that had retarded their efforts were slavery and racial
prejudice. He believed that the black race had been transplanted by the
foolishness of its forefathers( W.E.B Du Bois, 38) Higher education and hard
work could uplift them from this servitude and he knew that he could assist
them through it.
W.E.B Du Bois’s ideas and his way of pursuing goals was more
convincing and appropriate . Unlike Booker T. Washington , Du Bois was
more direct in his approach of achieving civil and political rights promised to
the blacks. The environment in the post-emancipation south was not the
same as before the civil war. Before the war, the blacks had not yet been
declared emancipated so they did not expect themselves to be given the
same status as that of the whites. But after the civil war, not been given
their basic rights would aggravate them even more because now they were
being deprived of something they lawfully possessed. Booker T. Washington
emphasized that African Americans should work under whites, gain their
trust and thus gradually they would attain their freedom. This was irrational
because the blacks had waited long enough for the emancipation
proclamation. They had suffered a lot of hardships through this period of
time. And making them wait even longer through his slow process would
aggravate them even more would cause them to burst into revolt. Booker T.
Washington’s program of achieving civil and political rights for the blacks
also had its own shortcomings. His program was designed to please the
North and invigorate the South. The Northern states had invested in
Southern enterprises and so Washington’s plan came as a welcome method
of peaceful cooperation. Du Bois, unlike Washington did not preach
surrendering to white supremacy. He insisted on self reliance and self-
respect. He even believed that Booker T. Washington’s idea of industrial
training was pointless as he did not encourage higher education. Only if the
black teachers were well educated could they teach in these industrial
training schools, and Washington failed to understand that.
Booker T. Washington mentioned in his Atlanta compromise, “The
wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social
equality is the extremist folly….. It is important and right that all privileges
of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for
the exercises of these privileges ( Washington, 101.) It was cowardly of
Booker T. Washington to say that his people were not striving for equality.
He even said ” The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth
infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in the opera house.”
Washington was just trying to demand equality in vague terms. But instead
he should have been more specific and demanded social equality. This is
because social equality was what the blacks in the south were striving for
and they would not settle for anything less than it.
Even though it is believed that Washington’s program came as a
relief to some southerners but yet it cannot be wholly accepted because it
consists of less straightforward honesty and more of indiscriminate
flattery. The black men of the post emancipation south were completely
aware of the importance of voting. It was a way by which they could choose
representatives who would better their conditions of living and work
towards their welfare. W.E.B Du Bois put this insight into their minds and
made them realize that they should rebel against servitude and fight for
equal rights and status as the whites.
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