Washington's Atlanta Compromise: The Plessy V. Ferguson Case

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When Booker T. Washington, an American editor and educator, made his 1895 Atlanta Compromise address it was widely accepted throughout the black and white communities. W.E.B DuBois, an American activist and Harvard graduate, initially thought highly of the address. Although, he later opposed it and was known for his ideas outlined in the 1903 The Talented Truth essay. DuBois shifted his philosophy from Washington’s economic program to a more civil rights and political approach primarily because he believed that higher education was the future, not basic schooling and trades. The idea of basic education, and events like the Sam Hose lynching, and the Plessy v. Ferguson case persuaded DuBois to go against Washington’s Atlanta Compromise. The …show more content…
Ferguson case went underway. The case originated from an 1892 challenge to the “Separate Car Act” in Louisiana. Homer Plessy, a seven-eighths white male decided to sit in the white train car. After refusing to move, Plessy was arrested because one was one-eighth black and was supposed to sit in the black train car. Plessy pleaded by suggesting this violated his constitutional rights. The Supreme Court, however, did not accept this and considered the arrest constitutional. This then resulted in the “separate but equal” doctrine. The “separate but equal” doctrine was disliked by DuBois. He saw a trap forming due to the compromise and the outcome of the case. Blacks would be forever entrapped under white rule if they didn’t phase out of the compromise and segregation. DuBois saw that African American’s were then faced with a fall of their rights as well as aggression and discrimination from many whites. Another event that contributed to DuBois’s switch in philosophy was the lynching of Sam Hose. Hose, a laborer accused of murder, was being transported to Newnan, Georgia for his trial. Once the train stopped he was greeted with a white mob ready to kill him. 2000 witnesses watched as Hose’s body was mutilated, burned, and then hanged from a tree. Hose’s body parts were then auctioned off as souvenirs. Specifically, his knuckles were encased in storefront
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