In his autobiography, Up from Slavery (1901), Booker T. Washington, a renowned African American leader in the late nineteenth century, describes his influential life experiences and his hypotheses for black reconstruction. Washington provides detail about his childhood, his education at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, his head position at Tuskegee Institute, an industrial school for black students in Alabama, and his role in bringing together the nation after the abolition of slavery. Within his text, Washington not only provides readers with his beliefs and strategies for rebuilding the nation, but he also presents his own personal background to show how he came to formulate this program.
[...] In doing so, Du Bois further believes, Washington affirms the race's “alleged inferiority” and prolongs the “disenfranchisement of the Negro” (Du Bois 44- tossing aside any potential future political power for African Americans. He recognizes Washington as a “leader not of one race but of compromiser between the South, the North, and the Negro” however, Du Bois firmly criticizes the fact that within his compromise, Washington is willing to neglect “certain elements of true manhood” and the self-respect of the black race in order to gain acceptance from the white population of both the North and the South (Du Bois 39). [...]
[...] Conciliation of the Southern and Northern whites is, just as Du Bois claims, a large part of Washington's plans for reconstruction, but by winning over the respect and approval of the white people who have political power, African American's will eventually be granted political power as well. Du Bois' arguments against Washington and his ignorance about black political rights are not backed up by logical evidence. Washington stresses the significance of trade and business, while Du Bois condemns him for not emphasizing the importance of a higher education instead; however, Washington focuses on industry for a reason. [...]
[...] Here, Du Bois recognizes that, indeed, African American's need encouragement and support from the white population in order to attain suffrage and other political and civil rights, but Du Bois does not realize that Washington's plan for “conciliation of the South” (Du Bois 44) is also his plan to win this support from the whites. Washington affirms, individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race” (75). The white community will turn their other cheek to any African American's perseverance to claim their rights as citizens unless they see they will get something in return. [...]
[...] Du Bois correctly asserts that Washington places the whites on a higher pedestal than the blacks, advocating African Americans to obediently conciliate and appease white men and women in order to make peace between the two races. But there is substantial evidence within Washington's book that proves wrong Du Bois' claims that Washington asks African Americans to throw away their civil rights and any hopes of achieving political power. In this way, Du Bois misinterprets Washington's ideas, leading him to make false accusations about the political effects of his plans. [...]
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