Question

Describe the opinions of W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T Washington regarding the pursuit of equal rights. How are they the same and how are they different.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T Washington were two great black thinkers whose main similarity was the same desire to improve the lives of blacks in such a racist and oppressive country. However, the ways in which they thought they could promote this improvement was very different, which led to debates and certain ideological frictions between them.

Washington said that blacks should accept the discrimination they experienced and not fight against the concept of servitude and submission that accompanied them, for a certain period of time. During that time, blacks should practice patience and solidarity among their fellowmen and work to accumulate capital and material goods for themselves. This would leave them in an equal situation in relation to whites, who could see them as worthy, but this would make them superior to whites because they had well-trained and encouraged solidarity and patience.

Du Bois abhorred this type of approach, because he believed that it stimulated white supremacy and allowed more abuse to be issued to the black population. For Du Bois, blacks would only achieve equality through the political power they needed to take for themselves. He affirmed that for that, a social change would be necessary that would be promoted by the stimulus of the study and the academic and superior formation of young blacks, who, once formed would have all the political, economic and social framework to promote changes in society.