The African American leader who supported a gradual approach to racial equality was Booker T. Washington. Living in the south, he believed that a slow approach would reduce the chance of a strong adverse reaction from the whites, improving the opportunity of gaining equality with peace; the black advancements leading to civil rights would be through education. Many people thought his strategy would maintain the Negro community away from its civil rights for a long period, sacrificing even more the blacks in the south.
