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

Succeeding the Civil war, America was left as a segregated country with a strong divide between black and white citizens. White Americans, not being used to black people being considered citizens and part of society, made many efforts to keep the negro race part of the lower class. Jim Crow laws and Black Codes were implemented by white people as efforts to promote white supremacy, while African American’s tried to expand their opportunities and improve their place in the social system. There are many different people who publicly spoke out during the Reconstruction Era to push for racial equality, however, two of the most discussed, still to this day, are Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois. Both with opposing opinions on how to address the issue of racial equality, voiced their stance in famous papers. Washington in his Atlanta Compromise speech, …show more content…
W.E.B Dubois’s immediate approach to racial equality would be more effective during the Reconstruction Era because his plan allowed for the liberation of black people to get a formal education, unlike in Booker T. Washington’s moderate approach. Booker T. Washington, born into slavery, was the product of a enslaved black women and a white man. At an early age, Booker T. Washington was thrusted into a life of labor and hard work. Although Washington never attended an actual school as an adolescent, when he wasn’t working he put effort into self education. As an adult he went on to get a college education and eventually founded Tuskegee University, a school for colored people that specialized mainly in trades. In his Atlanta Compromise speech Washington states “We shall prosper as we learn to dignify

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