W.E.B Du Bois Critique on Booker T. Washington
On the beginning of Civil War experience in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Century. During this period constitutional amendments were proposed to guarantee African Americans their civil rights. However, the African American who lived during the reconstruction era experienced several setbacks in their pursuit of civil rights. Among these setbacks was the end of reconstruction in 1877 and withdrawal of troops that were maintaining law and order in the southern states. Some laws that were promulgated included prohibition to join in economic and political activities and co-schooling. To redeem themselves, two representatives from the African America community were to engage in a debate to navigate strategies to use to overcome these challenges. T. Washington and W.E.D Du Bois were involved in developing these strategies. The essay below is a composition of critique of Du Bois on T. Washington’s book, “The Souls of Black Folk’’, the extent to which his criticisms were fair and unfair.
Booker T. Washington and educator preached the philosophy of racial solidarity, self-help and accommodation in his book “ The Souls of Black Folk.’’ Through this, he advised blacks to live with racial discrimination for the time being and concentrate on evaluating themselves by engaging in activities that can direct themselves to material prosperity (Frontline PBS, 2016).
Du Bois criticized T. Washington take by advocating for political actions aimed at enhancing the civil rights of the blacks. Through this, he refuted T. Washington’s urge of the blacks to accept discrimination by asking the blacks to develop small groups called “The Talented Tenth” that will liberate the movement toward earning their civil rights.
This criticism is fair. This is because, by blacks accepting discrimination, they would never get their civil rights. Also, the dispute existing between the two most elite African American leaders would polarize the black community into t supporting conservative ideas of T. Washington and another wing supporting radical critics of Du Bois. Today, T. Washington is associated with withcolorblind, Republicans, and Thomas Sowell wing consisting of both leaders and the black community (Washington, 1961). This is unfair because his ideologies differ with those of these groups.
References
Frontline PBS. (2016, February 10). The Debate Between W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. FRONTLINE; Frontline PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/debate-w-e-b-du-bois-and-booker-t-washington/
Washington, B. (1961). The Souls of Black Folk and My Larger Education. The Journal of Negro Education, 30(4), 440. https://doi.org/10.2307/2294065