What were the differences between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois's philosophies?

In his book The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois tries to temper his frustration with the famous and influential Booker T. Washington, probably the most prominent black leader of his era, and give him the credit and respect he is due. At the same time, his distress with his ideas shows how differently the two men viewed black education, work, and politics.

This almost certainly reflect differences in the two men's backgrounds. Washington was born into slavery in 1856 and spent his early years oppressed under that institution. DuBois was born after the Civlil War to freedom in 1868 and grew up in a somewhat integrated environment, having the opportunity to attend the University of Berlin and obtain a Harvard Phd.

Washington embraced accommodationist thinking, in which blacks gave up rights and accepted second-class citizenship in return for being helped and not persecuted by whites. He believed that if blacks could be helped to greater economic independence through accepting second-class jobs, they would eventually accumulate the wealth and economic base to gain full civil rights and integration into American society.

As a result, Washington emphasized vocational education for blacks and discouraged them from seeking college educations. He believed black men should be proud to have jobs as railroad porters, mechanics, and shoe shine boys and should use these positions both to acquire savings and gain the respect of whites. As for civil rights, Washington actively discouraged blacks from seeking the vote, which they were largely denied through technicalities, and he accepted the "separate but equal" racial segregation of the South. He encouraged blacks to accept being labelled inferior for the time being as they built themselves up economically.

Du Bois could not have been more vehemently opposed to all of these policies. He believed accepting second class status and inferiority would destroy the black soul or spirit and make it impossible for blacks to ever get ahead. He very strongly encouraged blacks to get all the education they could, to vie for the same jobs as whites, and to struggle without cease for the vote and the end of segregation. He saw the 'be patient and wait' advice of whites as a fraud that would only keep blacks down. He fought for blacks to have pride and embrace their gifts and equality to whites.

History has shown that Du Bois was right and Washington wrong, but at the same time, Washington was born in different circumstances and, in his own way, devoted his life to helping blacks advance.

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), who was based at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, was among the most prominent African American leaders of his time. In his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech given in 1895, he advocated African American people's advancement through learning practical skills, particularly trades and agricultural skills, rather than through university education and voting rights. He believed that African Americans had to help themselves before whites would help them, and he thought that African American entrepreneurship and their learning of practical skills would enhance the solidarity of their community. Rather than attacking Jim Crow head on, he believed that if African Americans helped themselves, they would eventually advance politically and achieve civil rights.

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was the first African American person to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard and was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Splitting with Booker T. Washington, he wanted African Americans to enjoy civil rights and voting rights on equal footing with whites in a more immediate way than what Washington called for. Du Bois thought that the African American elite, called the "Talented Tenth," were critical in bringing about African American equality, so Du Bois advocated advanced education for African Americans and not just the acquisition of work-related skills (as Washington had). Du Bois confronted lynching and Jim Crow directly and called for their abolition. His work Black Reconstruction, published in 1935, challenged the prevailing idea that African Americans had caused the failures of Reconstruction. He became a socialist, and he was punished during the McCarthy era for his leftist sympathies (though he was not a Communist). He spent the last few years of his life in Ghana, where he died in 1963 at the age of 95.

Booker T. Washington was an emanicipated slave who became a self made man. William E.B. DuBois was a northerner with a New England background and a P.H.D. from Harvard University. Booker T. Washington's philosophy concerning the role of African Americans was tempered by his belief in 'accomodation'. He believed that if African Americans ignored discrimination, concentrated on their economic future that their political rights would follow. He believed that there was no shame in manual labor. W.E.B. DuBois believed that African Americans should not limit themselves to vocational labor but to educate themselves in order to be recognized as full citizens  as was their right. He rejected the idea of accomadation and suggested that only through political equality (voting rights) could African Americans achieve economic and social equality. His philosophy had a more militant edge to it when compared with the philosophy of Booker T. Washington. 

Compare and contrast W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington both were instrumental in attempting to improve the social, political, and economic situation of African Americans around the turn of the century. They differed, however, in how and when social, political, and economic improvement would occur.

In 1895, Booker T. Washington gave a speech in Atlanta, Georgia, in which he declared that the primary goal of African Americans should be economic progress, educational opportunities, and equal rights in court. He also claimed in his speech that as long as these opportunities were afforded, African Americans should accept segregation and their status within American society. This became known as the "Atlanta Compromise" and would result in criticism from W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois believed that Washington's beliefs were incorrect and that African Americans should instead demand equal rights in all areas of society. Du Bois cited the 14th Amendment, which established full citizenship for African Americans, as the reason African Americans should immediately demand equal rights from white citizens.

As far as economic success was concerned, Washington believed that it would take time and would not occur quickly. Washington hoped that through years of hard work, African Americans would eventually achieve an increase in social and economic standing. He believed that with this increase in social and economic standing, African Americans would eventually become respected and included by white Americans. Booker T. Washington believed that an improvement to economic standing for African Americans would come through the learning of skills and trades, which his Tuskegee Institute attempted to teach. Through the learning of skills and trades, Washington hoped African Americans would have more opportunities for greater earnings than unskilled labor jobs.

Du Bois's approach to improvement for African Americans focused more on education and political action. Du Bois was well-educated and surrounded himself with other well-educated African American leaders. Du Bois was also instrumental in forming the political group "Niagara," which aimed to achieve equal civil rights and greater opportunities for African Americans. Many of the goals established by the group Niagara eventually became central to the NAACP.

As you can see, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had a shared overall goal of improving the political, economic, and social standing of African Americans. Their approaches, however, were quite different. Du Bois favored education, political action, and a refusal to accept a status as second-class citizens. Washington favored slower progress made through the learning of skills and trades, slow economic improvement, and, at least for the short term, acceptance of a lower social status. Washington hoped that this would lead to overall improvement for African Americans.

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were African American leaders in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. They were both very concerned about the lack of rights that African Americans had. They both were concerned about the steady erosion of the rights that African Americans had gained during Reconstruction. However, they disagreed on how African Americans should proceed to get their rights.

Booker T. Washington believed African Americans should work to get economic equality first. He believed African Americans should get vocational training, so they could get jobs. Once they got jobs and were more secure economically, they then would protest about the lack of political equality. This was known as the Atlanta Compromise.

W.E.B. Du Bois believed African Americans should get all of their rights immediately. He did not feel that African Americans should have to wait for one set of rights while the other set of rights was attained. He felt African Americans deserved all of their rights as soon as possible.

Did W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington share the same views?

Both advocated for the advancement of black people but strongly disagreed on the method of achieving it. 

Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, favored what he called "practical knowledge" over the liberal arts education that Du Bois had acquired. He eschewed civil rights and, during a speech at the Atlanta Exposition, famously claimed that blacks and whites could exist socially as "separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." The Atlanta address is sometimes also referred to as the Atlanta Compromise, for that was exactly Washington's intent: to placate white fears about integration, while also, ever so cleverly, asserting the necessity of black participation in economic life. He encouraged black people to cast "down your buckets where you are," which was a message of self-reliance. 

Tuskegee, like several other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), was initiated as a trade school, in keeping with Washington's preference for practical knowledge. This mindset was not completely intended to placate whites. Privately, Washington was not the deep thinker that Du Bois was. For example, he disliked reading fiction; he thought stories were a waste of time. 

Nevertheless, he had strong supporters in white leaders, particularly philanthropists who helped fund Tuskegee. He opened the school with merely $2,000 in funding from the state of Alabama. Twenty-five years later, the school had 1,500 students enrolled, training in thirty-seven industries. He was also invited to the White House, where he advised Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft on race relations. 

Du Bois despised everything that Tuskegee represented, due to its subordination of independent and critical thinking in favor of manual skills. However, Washington's displacement from black leadership—in favor of Du Bois—had less to do with Du Bois's brilliance and more to do with timing.

After the First World War, thousands of black soldiers returned to a nation still intent on treating them as subhuman, despite their immense sacrifice. Knowing that life in Europe, particularly in France, was freer, many black Americans now questioned the validity of Washington's ideas, which seemed regressive and irrelevant. 

Du Bois's criticism of Washington began in 1901. In a review for Dial magazine, Du Bois encouraged a break between conservative and "radical" wings in the black community, with Washington representing the former and Du Bois, the latter. The intent of this was probably not only ideological, but self-promotional and intended to diminish Washington's credibility. Du Bois accused Washington of using his power to silence his critics and manipulate black media.

Du Bois praised the Atlanta Exposition address for its eloquence, but, in The Souls of Black Folk, derided the passivity encouraged by Washington. In the chapter, "On the Training of Black Men," he promoted his idea of "the Talented Tenth," a liberally-educated group of black people who would assume leadership positions in their respective communities. This leadership would be politically motivated. In 1905, Du Bois established the political and social action group, the Niagara Movement, which evolved into the NAACP. 

How did Booker T. Washington's and W.E.B. Du Bois's views on achieving equality differ?

To clarify a comment made by a previous educator, Black Americans already had a constitutional right to vote by the late-1800s, around the time that Booker T. Washington made his address at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895. However, southern states employed various schemes, including intimidation, to prevent black people from exercising their right to vote.

In addition to Washington believing that black people should seek practical employment in manufacturing and architecture, he saw no use in a liberal arts education; whereas, DuBois thought that it was fundamental to racial uplift. However, while Washington did not think it necessary for black people to seek equality directly with whites, DuBois did not exactly believe that all black people were equal. Instead, he encouraged the notion of a Talented Tenth which would guide the rest of the race upward. Washington, on the other hand, thought that all black people should seek similar pursuits in trades and did not want to rock the boat politically; DuBois was politically radical.

Both agreed that conditions for black people in the United States were unsatisfactory. Both wanted for black people to be more fully integrated as citizens, but Washington thought that citizenship would occur through economic progress, not through political progress. Both were single-minded, each in his own way. Washington did not see the point of intellectualism and DuBois did not think that people with less education and economic status could be leaders.

W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were leading African-American thinkers around 1900. Both men had clear views about how African-Americans should achieve equality.

Both men believed African-Americans should have equal rights. They differed on how those rights should be achieved. Booker T. Washington believed African-Americans should first focus on vocational training and securing jobs. Once they had jobs and were more secure financially, Booker T. Washington then believed African-Americans should fight for political equality. He believed economic equality should be secured before political equality should be secured. This idea was known as the Atlanta Compromise.

W.E.B. Du Bois believed differently. He believed African-Americans should secure all of the rights at the same time. He believed it was unnecessary for African-Americans to wait for political equality. He believed that African-Americans should secure both political equality and economic equality at the same time. He couldn’t understand why there should be a wait for any form of equality to occur. He believed it should all happen now.

Both men want equality for African-Americans. They differed on how and when that equality should be achieved.

How were the views of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois different?

Both Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) and W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) were African American leaders interested in advancing African American rights. Washington, who worked at the Tuskegee Institute, saw the solution to the problem of African American civil rights as a gradual struggle in which African American people would first advance themselves through practical trades. Delivering a speech that became known as the "Atlanta Compromise" in 1895, Washington advanced the idea that African Americans would first become indispensable to the white community through economic clout and only then would advocate for political rights. He thought that African Americans emerging from Reconstruction were not fully ready to embrace political rights or to have elite educations.

Du Bois, the first African American person to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), adamantly opposed the Atlanta Compromise. He felt that African American people should immediately begin to agitate for political rights. He thought that elite, educated African Americans, referred to as "the talented tenth," could help African Americans achieve political rights and full civic participation. He, unlike Washington, believed that African Americans should also receive elite educational opportunities and not just opportunities in practical trades. Only by becoming educated, he believed, could African Americans achieve political and economic parity with whites.