Consider the conditions black Americans were facing from the 1890s through 1920.

Question

Consider the conditions black Americans were facing from the 1890s through 1920. Then, analyze the contrasting philosophies and organizational approaches of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Viewing them in the context of the times their individual programs were advanced, what were the merits and drawbacks of each individual’s program? And, what aspect of each man's program might or might not be useful to the circumstances black Americans face today. 

Answer 1

Response by H. Cline

Conditions

Economic

Agricultural

-Tenant and Sharecroppers rarely had a profit, due to crop damage and especially due to merchant debts imposed on landlord, interest rates at 25-25 percents (Southern, David W. 2005. The Progressive Era and Race : Reaction and Reform, 1900-1917. 73-74)

Trades and Industry and Occupations

Men

-Steel, Tobacco factories, coal, ports (Southern 2005, 75)

-Lumber, Turpentine, Fertilizer and Shipping (Ibid.,76)

-Reduction in skilled jobs after Civil War (Ibid.,75)

-Lower wages than white counter parts (Ibid.,76)

Women

-Domestic: Cooks, maids, Laundresses (Ibid.,77)

-Excluded from other jobs like clerical work (Ibid.,77)

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois

Booker T. Washington

-1895 Atlanta Compromise Quote: 'In all things purely social we can be [spreading fingers] as separate as the fingers yet one as the hand closing his fist in all things essential to mutual progress. (Ibid.,41)

-'Economic cooperation and social separation' (Ibid., 42).

-Do not demand suffrage (Ibid.,143-144)

-Employ education and trade and 'conform to white middle class standards' (Ibid.,143-144).

-Washington was an 'authentic leader...realistic program' (Ibid.,143)

-Demanding integration and suffrage would have been deadly (Ibid.,143)

-Strategy of 'self-help','self-segregation' and political withdrawal pre-dated Washington establishing Tuskegee (Ibid.,143-144).

-'Ultimate goal was racial equality' (Ibid.,143-144).

W.E.B Du Bois

-Demands for 'full range education' (Ibid.,160).

-Demands for 'equal economic opportunity (Ibid.,160)

-Demands for 'social equality' (Ibid., 160).

-NAACP involvement through 'The Crisis' Magazine and as Director and Publicity of Research (Ibid.,166).

Program Aspects

I can only say that WEB DuBois and Washington have had lasting impacts: DuBois through the NAACP and Washington through Tuskegee.

Sources:

Southern, David W. The Progressive Era and Race: Reaction and Reform, 1900-1917. H. Davidson, 2005.