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Mr. Washington And Others, By W. E. B. Dubois Essay

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On 18 September 1895, Booker T. Washington, a renowned educator and spokesman for African Americans, stood before a predominately Caucasian audience at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. He attempted to offer a compromise concerning African American acceptance among Caucasians. In his address, he encouraged African American to, in paraphrase, “Set aside, at least for the present time, the folly of seeking social equality and focus attention on being good neighbors to Caucasians” (Washington, 2016). While some African Americans were moved by Washington’s proposal, others were not. Among those who were not moved, was Mr. W.E.B DuBois, who was also a prominent leader among African Americans, as well as a professor of history and economics, and a co-founder of the NAACP. In his essay, “Of Mr. Booker T Washington and Others,” W.E.B Dubois effectively utilized the literary rhetorical devices to make a persuasive case that African Americans must continue to pursue equal rights which would enable them to progress in society.
Dubois opened his essay with a commanding hook which immediately grabbed the reader’s attention. He essentially tied Washington’s argument to his background as a slave. In his hook, Dubois seemed to imply that Washington was stuck in the past, and African Americans who sought to …show more content…

This coupled with the fact that Dubois used a persuasive style of writing in this article should yield no surprise that Dubois made use of pathos in his writing. He attempted to arouse a sense of pride in his African American readers. He did this continually by using words such as: self-respect, manly, and manhood throughout his article. As a persuasive writer, his arousal of pride was intended to be a call to action for African Americans to continue their pursuit for equality, and not settle for only being free from

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