The Niagara Movement Speech And The Atlanta Compromise

Dubois said, “Mr. Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things, --First, political power, second, insistence on civil rights, third, higher education of Negro youth, and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, and accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South.” Washington believed that the blacks could not move forward without giving up political power, civil rights, and higher education. He thought they had to give up those ideas for now and focus on wealth, industrial education and be friendly with the south. He thought once these objects were accomplished then the blacks could obtain the freedom and rights they wanted. Therefore, he felt that for now the color-line was ok because blacks needed to first earn their rights before they were handed over to them.

Harvard graduate and civil rights activist, W.E.B. Du Bois, gave his memorable “Niagara Movement" speech to preach the demands of African Americans. The main purpose of his speech was to persuade the nation that the way African Americans had been treated was no longer acceptable, and that it was time our country made some changes. Through his use of allusions, logical ideas, and knowledge of the faults of other parties, Du Bois eloquently delivered a list of desires on behalf of the entirety of his race.

On September 18, 1895, an African-American spokesman and leader Booker T. Washington spoke in the front of thousands of whites at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. His famous “Atlanta Compromise” was one of the most influential speeches in American. regardless Washington soothed his listeners’ concerns about the what they said “uppity” blacks. Mr. Washington was a very well-known black educator. Even though he was born into slavery he strongly felt and believed that racism would in fact end once the blacks put effort into labor skills and proved themselves to society. He pressured industrial education for African-Americans so that they would gain respect from the whites. Washington often was good for ignoring discrimination because it didn’t phase him. But he was so nervous

W.E.B. DuBois, a black intellectual believed that Washington's strategy would only serve to perpetuate white oppression. DuBois initially advocated for Washington's strategy, however he grew to find it unacceptable as he became more outspoken about racial injustice. DuBois campaigned for a civil rights agenda and argued that educated blacks could accomplish social change. With the belief that African Americans should work together to battle inequality DuBois helped found the NAACP. DuBois was not content with attempting to gain an economic foothold; he wanted absolute equality in all aspects of life. DuBois believed that Washington "devalued the study of liberal arts, and ignored the economic exploitation of the black masses. He believed that "The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education then, among Negroes, must first of all deal with the ‘Talented Tenth.' [which] is the problem of developing the best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the worst." He believed that the economic and political issues facing African Americans could be solved if the most talented ten

Dubois writings, unlike Washington’s writings survived aging and sounds modern. Both Dubois and Washington, however, wanted the best for their people, both were sincerely engaged in racial uplift, and therefore in the end neither was “right” or “wrong.” Indeed, Washington’s ideas fitted the era that he lived in and Dubois ideas the future.

I think you provide an excellent exploration of Washington’s ideas regarding education. I remember in The Future of the American Negro that he noted after the civil war the privileged Southern white man’s fall to “despair, almost utter hopelessness, over his weak and childlike condition” (43) the condition being not knowing the “benefit of technical and industrial training” (43). Washington is arguing that during the collapse of the south there were farm owners who didn’t know how to farm or labor (as a result of slave dependence) and thus, their (whites) attempts of rebuild spiraled further into “degradation instead of beauty” (43). I can’t help but think that perhaps Washington was hoping through agricultural and industrial education that

On September 18, 1895, Booker T Washington stood in front of an audience of Citizens and the Board of Directors, as well as the President, and delivered “The Atlantic Exposition Speech.” This speech asked the White population to give Negros a chance in the developing world. It asked for Negros to be hired instead of the immigrants that were entering the country; it asked for an opportunity allow Negros to be educated in an effort to improve the community as well as the nation. Washington’s speech was about progress forward. Progression is paramount for the future of civilization, our culture, and social change. Progression is the goal for movement and for a better tomorrow. His speech was meant to be the spark that ignited this progression for social change, a change for the future of the people and the nation. The usage of metaphors in Washington’s speech was a means to strengthen his push to help the progression Negros so that they can be better integrated and advance in the country. Though his speech was written for a valid cause for the people, Washington’s reasoning utilized in the speech was not valid.

As humans our species has a requirement for knowledge and we are a deeply curious in nature. This is how we have evolved and throughout time with new inventions and new ideals our primitive instincts changed some say for better and others say for the worst. Booker Taliaferro Washington helped African Americans gain the knowledge of literacy that was so long forbidden. Born to a cook for plantation and an ambiguous white man on April 5, 1856, he was just another face among a sea of discriminated,miserable, and oppressed people. Growing up in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia, in most states prior to the Civil War, the child of a slave was born a slave. Although times were hard whether it was living in the small quarters with his sister, brother, and mother, hearing stories of his ancestors and the torture they endured, or not knowing or being able to console in his father. Washington found his comfort and peace through knowledge. He first discovered education after peeping through the window of a school house near a plantation where he toted 100 pounds of cotton each day. From that moment he knew his calling and wanted to do what children in the school house were doing, but due to the fact it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write. He had to go out and get it on his own.

The Niagara Movement wanted to change what the ratification to the 13th Amendment did not. Led by W.E.B. Dubois in 1905, this movement sought to end discrimination and show that even though they were legal free, this freedom was a new kind of slavery. The Niagara Movement had one simple main demand for American; that wanted to have “… every single right that belongs to a freeborn American, political, civil, and social…” (LP 75). This is something that they had been denied for so long.

During a time period when slavery had finally come to an end, African Americans still struggled as their opportunities for equality were next to nonexistent. In this time of hardship and unfair treatment, not many of those facing these adversities had the courage to speak out on their beliefs for change; Booker T. Washington and WEB Dubois, however, did not possess such fears — both thoroughly articulated their opinions and stood for what they believed was right. Booker T. Washington and WEB Dubois shared a few commonalities — both men were highly educated, for example, as well as they both expressed strong opposition against segregation. Washington’s Up from Slavery: An Autobiography and Dubois’

There have been various tactics that southern whites used to slow down this educational progress. First, White communities would not hire African-American teachers, despite meeting the required credentials. Du Bois faced this firsthand when he was searching for a job in Tennessee. He would walk, because horses were too expensive, many miles asking schools ‘Got a teacher? Yes.’ The difficulty of being accepted into schools is another reason behind the uneducated African-American. Some schools would deny students based on the color of their skin. For example, Alexander Crummell was an African-American who sought an education from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. He would be rejected admission; but, the rejection did not deter him from his goal of obtaining an education. He would eventually own “his own chapel in Providence, a priest of the Church.” The experience of him being rejected created a man that would not complain of America’s standards. Instead, he would use the rejection to inspire the young, unwilling, and uneducated

Whereas Washington thought education was important but knew it wasn’t the only thing that dictates whether a person is successful or not. He stressed to his students through Tuskegee that they should remain in their agricultural districts and learn hands on, rather than leaving for the city for a higher education. He thought it was more important that African Americans be capable of all sorts of labor, and not attract to one area, that a well-rounded community was needed. As Washington claims in his Atlanta Compromise: “In all things purely social we can be as separate as the five fingers, and yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress,” (447). He means that we may be a country divided by different raises but if we all come together mutually, and do not allow this simple difference to deteriorate our nation collectively, is the ultimate way to progress as a human race. Both Du Bois and Washington saw the biggest problem that faced the nation and still does today, but the strategy to combat this problem was handled differently by both of

Racial discrimination, political, social and economic inequality during the late 19th century and early 20th century led various leaders within the black community to rise up and address the appalling circumstances that African Americans were forced to endure. Among these leaders were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois whom possessed analogous desires as it pertained to the advancement and upliftment of the black race. While both individuals were fighting for the same cause and purpose they embraced contrary ideologies and approaches to African American struggle. In Booker T. Washington’s book “Up from Slavery” African Americans were encouraged to be passive and focus on vocational education whereas in W.E.B. DuBois book “The Souls of Black Folk”, African Americans were encouraged to fight for their merited rights and focus on academic education. However, although Washington was convinced that his ideologies would sincerely uplift the black race, they actually proved to be detrimental, leaving DuBois ideology to be the most reasonable and appropriate solution for the advancement of the black race.

Washington was attracted to the idea of industrial education because he saw it as a way to strengthen relationships from a business perspective between White men and Black people. He said the following, “I believe the way for the redemption of the Negro was being prepared through industrial development.” He felt an industrial education would give Black people the essential tools for their freedom. This is where conflict between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois arise, “Negro men and women were educated in literature, in mathematics and in the sciences, with little thought of what had been taking place during the preceding two hundred and fifty years, except, perhaps, as something to be escaped, to be got as far away from as possible.”

Washington showed that the ability to learn had the power to transform lives, not simply in a personal capacity, but also in the way that it affects society. The creation of the Tuskegee Institute demonstrated this through the impact it had on the community in Tuskegee, Alabama. To secure the school’s permanent location, part of its payment was made by the “white and colored people in the town” (Washington, 96). The institution aimed to send out successful students who mastered a trade that aided the economy and wellbeing of the public. This stimulated “pleasant relations between the races” (Washington, 107), proving that educational stability benefitted everyone in the community. Tuskegee was forged to promote industrial education, to teach the students that labor was not a disgrace, but a means through which they could find true freedom. For this reason it was discovered that the person who could do “what the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of race” (Washington, 107). By teaching the students how to perform tasks that communities all over the nation needed to flourish, Washington gave his students the ability to prosper. Education gave African Americans the ability to earn a living, support their families, and build a bridge between themselves and the white people of the