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... egee, Alabama. He built the school up from a shack to an institution of more than forty buildings. Booker T.
didnt think teaching blacks how to read and write and memorize from books would really help them. Booker instead taught how to live in a white society. He taught them how to use a tooth bush and how to bathe properly. In the process of building his school he became known for his speaking ability. On September 18, 1895, in Atlanta Georgia, Booker made his famous speech. He told blacks that they should accept their inferior social positions.
He went on to say that blacks should improve themselves through vocational training and economic independence. This passive stance pleased many whites, because Booker had gained so much respect the black community accepted what he said. The more militant W. E. B.
Du Bois objected to such a quiescent approach and strongly opposed Booker. Before he died Booker founded several organizations and wrote several books. He died on November 14, 1915, at Tuskegee. Booker's strong point is that he told blacks that they should get a better education; they should better themselves. Better themselves?
What about bettering their position in life? What good does it do to have an education if you cant get a job because of the color of your skin! While Garvey was too extreme, Booker was too laid back. If you dont protest against the status quo then nothing will happen to change it.
The third leader was a man who borrowed a little from both Marcus Garvey and Booker T. Washington. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was a descendant of African American, French, and Dutch ancestors.
He was extremely gifted even at an early age and graduated from high school at the age of sixteen. He was the valedictorian and the only black in his graduating class of twelve. He was abandoned after his graduation and was forced to pay for his college education by himself. He gained a scholarship to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At college he finally understood the problem that faced Southern blacks. Growing up Du Bois had never encountered racism.
However, at college he kept hearing of the growing number of racial related violence. The desire to help improve the lives of all blacks grew. Du Bois graduated from Fisk and was accepted at Harvard where he had to enroll as an undergraduate. He attained his second BA in 1890, his MA and finally his Ph. D. in 1895, becoming the first black to attain that degree at Harvard.
Du Bois then went on to study the historical and sociological conditions of blacks. His research was published in a series of articles and books. In 1897 Du Bois made a speech on the condition of black society he said, One feels his two-nissan American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body. With his book The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois openly challenged Booker T. Washington, who was then the most respected and influential black in America.
Du Bois did not like Booker T. stance on compromise and accommodation. In 1905 Du Bois helped organize the Niagara Movement, which led the way for the formation the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP was a group of men who were opposed to the ideals of Booker T. Washington. They named Du Bois as one of the founding officers in 1910.
Because of his essays on lynching, his positions on the war, and his criticisms of Marcus Garvey, Du Bois gained respect. The head officers of the NAACP were all white. The organization then took a stance that blacks should integrate with whites. Du Bois left the organization, which he helped found, because he was unwilling to advocate racial integration in all aspects of life, a position that was adopted by the NAACP. Du Bois idea was that blacks should join together, separate from whites, and start businesses and industries that would allow blacks to advance economically. He felt that if whites and blacks were to join then the blacks would be taken advantage of.
Du Bois wanted equality with the whites; he did not want racial integration with them though. After he left he wrote many books and fought for world peace and nuclear disarmament. In an act of rebellion he joined the American Communist Party and moved to Ghana. In Ghana he denounced his American citizenship and became a citizen of Ghana.
Du Bois lived to the age of ninety-five. Du Bois ideals were a blend of both Booker T. and Garvey. Like Garvey, Du Bois wanted to have no part in racial integration. Du Bois also thought that education and economic independent was important for the advancement of black society. Du Bois ideas were not too radical nor were they too subtle.
Du Bois criticized Garvey's black power movement and he looked down upon Booker for having such an emphasis on economic independence. Du Bois only fault, like Garvey, was in his belief in racial separation. He would not compromise with whites. During the civil rights movements, individuals and organizations challenged segregation and discrimination with a variety of activities.
In the forefront of these movements were Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. Du Bois. All three of these men had a dream of equality; they lead the way for future leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
Marcus Garvey preached for racial pride among his people and told them to return to Africa. Booker T. Washington told his followers to accept the status quo and improve themselves through hard work and economic independence. W. E. B.
Du Bois told the black community to separate themselves from whites and to gain economic self-reliance. All three men went after the same goal; they just did it in their own ways. There is a thin line between doing nothing and doing too much Works Cities Garvey, Marcus, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000 web >, 1997 - 2000 Microsoft Corporation. Harlan, Louis.
Booker T. Washington The Making of a Black Leader, 1856 - 1901. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. Lewis, David Levering. W. E.
B. Du Bois Biography of a Race 1868 - 1919. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993. Marble, Manning. W. E.
B. Du Bois Black Radical Democrat. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1986. Van Debug, William L. Modern Black Nationalism From Marcus Garvey to Louis Farrakhan. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery. Williamstown, Virginia: Corner House Publishers, 1900.
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