Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Dubois Essay Example

Both activists have written and published the views expressing African American state of living in this society post the prohibition of slavery, while still under the rule of the Jim Crow Laws. Although Washington and Dubois understood the prosperity that was needed to be achieved, both would contradict each other seeing that one lead many for a slow change while the other yearned for a somewhat instant change. The competing vision of their views, ideals philosophies of how to make progress in the American Society is not monolithic. When advocating the improvement of the African American race, such standards must have been followed to achieve political equality in the future to come. Addressing different audiences, Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois express strongly different views on issues of race, including their attitudes toward whites, their fellow African Americans, and how the two communities should relate to each other. 

In his 1895 “Atlanta Exposition” Address, Booker T. Washington urges white entrepreneurs to invest in the vast unemployed African American labor pool in the South. This persuasive speech points out how these two diverse races can live together in arrange to advance with prosperity by emphasizing black economic freedom and arguing that black Americans would gain acceptance and economic stability in society through their skills and labor. Washington tries to persuade both African Americans and Caucasians to get along for the thriving of the south. Trying to influence individuals to be companions no matter what skin color or birth place, articulating Washington's saying, “as separate as the fingers, yet one as a hand”. Highlighting that this union, at a point, will be encompassed by the foremost steadfast, law-biding, and unresentful individuals the world has ever seen.