The Souls of Black Folk Group

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shortibee00
shortibee00

What is DuBois's concept of race and vision of education and how does it differ from Booker T Washington's?

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Posted by shortibee00 on Thursday March 5, 2009 at 11:32 AM and tagged with booker t washington, contrast, dubois, eduction, race, the souls of black folk, vision.

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  1. litelle209 Teacher
    College - Freshman

    eNotes Editor

    Du Bois and Booker T Washington were contemporaries and essentially fought for the same thing, full political agency and social equality for African Americans in the post reconstruction period. While Du Bois initially backed Washington, he began to withdraw his support after the infamous Atlanta exposition speech in 1895 in which he seemingly catered to and attempted to pacify the white, southern elite.

    Central to both men’s thinking is what Du Bois calls “training men for life”.  Du Bois was a classically trained scholar who attended Harvard (he entered in his Junior year) and went on to study in Germany. He later taught Greek and Latin at the University level, where as Booker T Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute for Industrial education.  In Of the Training of Black Men, Du Bois argues that higher education is the key to stamp out prejudice and thus will lead to full equality for Blacks. He criticizes Washington in his essay Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others for wanting to give up political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education for African Americans. Further, he claims that Washington represents “in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission” and argues that by relegating African Americans toward the trades instead of higher education he “accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races”.

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    Posted by litelle209 on Wednesday March 18, 2009 at 6:10 PM