The programs of W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. Washington - Essay Example

The programs of W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. Washington towards advancement of African Americans of affiliation: W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. Washington had different programs that would create the advancement of African Americans after the Reconstruction. One of the challenges the African Americans faced was the Jim Crow segregation, whereby they lacked voting rights like the Whites (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2015). Dubois and Washington had competing programs. According to Washington, education was the fundamental ‘weapon’ that African Americans would use in solving the challenge of racial segregation, including gaining the right to vote (Carson, 2007).

Other areas that were important towards uplifting Africans racially were economics and agriculture, but they needed education first (Carson, 2007). To Washington, Constitutional Rights Foundation (2015) explains that it was necessary for African Americans to prove to the Whites that they were relevant to the American economy before they would gain equal rights. Dubois’ program was contrary to that of Washington in that he, unlike Washington, agitated for Blacks to get equal rights as Whites immediately after the Reconstruction.

According to Dubois’ program, Washington had accepted mistreatment of African Americans through racial segregation (Booker v. Dubois, n.d). He also criticized Washington’s education-oriented approach as a way of making Blacks the servants of the Whites (Johnson and Watson, n.d). In Dubois approach to liberation of Blacks, he focused on the law, press (publicity), and protests as the strategies that would ensure the immediate liberation of the Blacks (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2015).

The backgrounds of the two contributed to their differences in approaches to Black liberation. The background of Dubois shows after teaching in Ohio (shortly), he directed a study that focused on the social conditions of the Blacks living in Philadelphia (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2015). From his studies, he concluded that lack of racial equality (not education) is what ‘locked’ Blacks from good jobs. On the contrary, Washington’s background shows that he designed the Tuskegee Institute as a place that would train the Blacks to gain skills that would make them fruitful in the economy (Carson, 2007).

It is the reason Washington took the educational approach towards liberation of Blacks. References Booker T. Washington V. W.E.B Dubois. (n.d). Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/souls/washingtonvsdubois.html Carson, C., Larpsanky-Werner, E.J., & Nash, G.B. (2007). The Struggle for Freedom: A History of African Americans. Penguin Academic Series. Constitutional Rights Foundation (2015). Three Visions for African Americans. Retrieved from http://www.crf-usa.org/brown-v-board-50th-anniversary/three-visions-for-african-americans.

html Johnson, K.V. and Watson, E. (N.d). The W.E.B Dubois V. Washington Debate. Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/v30/v30n4/pdf/johnson.pdf