Paths to Racial Equality

Abby Rowland 10/6/13 Blue Group

In the years after Reconstruction, two men, W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, helped lead the newly free African Americans to racial equality. Both men had very different opinions of the paths that should be taken to get there. DuBois knew that the best course was political. The Negro race needed leaders, people who would vote, change the laws, and take action. Washington, on the other hand, claimed that the key to acceptance into American culture was economic security. DuBois approach was more progressive and effective at eliminating discrimination and therefore helping African Americans to achieve racial equality. DuBois and Washington both saw the great obstacles standing in the way of racial equality. The neglect of education for the Negro race was the one impediment both men agreed upon. The lack of education kept blacks from becoming leaders and gaining jobs. DuBois, though, acknowledged a few problems that Washington seemed to ignore. For one, DuBois saw the social problem created by slavery. Slavery had established a national memory that African Americans were, and would always be, of a lesser status than whites (Blight 23). DuBois also accused Americans for having no impetus to solve problems. We Americans, he insisted, congratulate ourselves more on getting rid of a problem than on solving it(Blight 23). Although Washington ignored these issues, he did touch on one that was important. He said that whites dont see blacks as worthy or capable, but as liars and chicken thieves(Gibson). Perception of blacks, Washington knew, was an issue that needed to be addressed. Although racial equality was the goal of both DuBois and Washington, they had different ideas on how that goal could be obtained. They agreed that education was needed, for example, but they disagreed on the type of education. DuBois saw the need to use the government, fighting in court and changing laws, to help the Negro race gain their equality. The power of the ballot we need in sheer defense, he said, else what shall save us from a second

slavery?(Handout). If African Americans used their vote nothing could keep them from being equal with whites. He also thought that blacks had no right to sit silently by(handout) and let the world treat them as inferiors. To do this, they must get a liberal arts education so they would be fit to be leaders. Washington believed quite the opposite. He felt that the Negro race must put aside their desire for political equality for now and instead...focus on building economic security(Cayton 324). If Negros got a vocational education, Washington thought, and made themselves useful to whites(Gibson) then they would be accepted into society. From a contemporary perspective the approach of W.E.B DuBois would be more accepted today. Both men ultimately wanted the same thing, the complete acceptance and integration(Gibson) of African Americans into American society. However, according to DuBois, Washingtons program would consign the negro to an inferior status(Gibson). Washingtons plan was one of acceptance of discrimination, at least for the time being. Given the civil rights movement, it is unlikely that this plan would be accepted today. Unlike Washingtons plan, DuBois work fought for equality. DuBois did not believe in waiting to be accepted, he knew that in order to get what they wanted, they must push for it. DuBois started the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, which is still influential today. It worked to bring about enforcement of the 14th and 15th amendments(Gibson). The enactment of civil rights laws based off of these amendments, and the continuance of the NAACP, proves that DuBois plan would be accepted today. W.E.B DuBois and Booker T. Washington both strived to get African Americans what they wanted most, racial equality. DuBois saw equality through political terms, and Washington through economic. DuBois had a more thorough and effective plan, one that would be accepted today. He knew that by using their vote, the Negro race could rise up and be leaders. They should not have to sacrifice their constitutional rights in order to achieve a status that was already guaranteed(Gibson). He knew they had to fight.