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

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were both two very inspiring black men of their time. Washington was born a slave on the Burroughs Tobacco farm. After that he moved multiple times with his family. The only thing that stayed the same each time he moved was the feeling of discrimination. Du Bois on the other hand was born on a “Free-Slave” plantation. Du Bois attended school without working, instead of being a slave with no education. When his father died the family of the plantation disowned him and he had to work for everything he needed and wanted. While he was growing up he did not feel any discrimination like Washington did. The only challenges Du Bois faced while growing up was that the precocious, intellectual mixed race son of a single mother.

Du Bois was the first black persons to graduate from his high school, and then moved on to attend Fisk University. He went to Fisk on a full academic scholarship. After Fisk he attended Harvard, and while there received his Ph. D. after getting this he returned to Atlanta University. Washington however had to work for his schooling at the Hampton Institute. There he worked as his janitor and attended the school. He intended the Institute of Alabama when he finished high school. When he got there, he got very bored and created a new institute. Washington and Du Bois both graduated at the top of the class and went to college.

Washington and Du Bois disagreed on the types of strategies for economic and black social progress. Du Bois supported political action and a civil rights agenda; he helped in the creation of the NACCP. He liked to state and argues the point that changes in social status could be accomplished by developing the small group of educated-blacks called “The Talented Truth”. Washington was an educator, reformer and the most influential black leader of his time. He preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity and accommodation. He believed in education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills and the cultivation of the virtues of patience. Both men made an impact in American’s lives. They were both very smart, and made a difference in our world.