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Washington Vs Dubois

Decent Essays

One of the most philosophical and literary arguments of all time was between two prominent and powerful men representing the same race. Despite these two great men’s literary talents in reading and in writing; they had many differences with how the African-American man should live: socially, economically, and politically. Booker T. Washington and W.E. Dubois had different perspectives on how the African-American should thrive and function in society; However, DuBois’s approach of resilience reaches out to many more African-Americans politically, economically, and socially because DuBois believed it was the time for change.
Financially, DuBois sought to help the African-American man to prosper. DuBois’s focus was to encourage African-Americans …show more content…

Washington’s economics was based on vocational training. In “W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington Debate,” Watson and Johnson discuss, Washington was a student at Hampton Institute and became convinced that vocational education was the only means by which Blacks would become successful” (65). Financially, Washington believes working a vocational job would benefit the African American to work financially. In order for African-Americans to prove themselves. Washington claimed it was important to be indispensable and do anything to earn a living. Washington states, “blacks needed the right form of education would be beneficial in an economic sense” (66). In addition, Washington felt that industrial educational for achieving his goal of Black social improvement” (66). Unlike DuBois, who believes it is important to learn and to explore knowledge; Washington prefers one to acquire a trade and use it to support his family. Watson and Johnson continue to claim, “Washington believed that a black education should be so directed that the greatest proportion of the mental strength of the masses will be brought… that is needed to be done” (66). In order to thrive economically, Washington’s focus was on self-help and acquiring a trade. However, Washington was too accommodating. The two critics state, “The emphasis on manual training and the trades served to destroy the educational aspirations…and wiped out the hope that education could provide a way out of …show more content…

At the same time, Dubois politically supports the rights not only for African Africans, but also, for white women as well. In Valethia Watkins, “Votes for Women: Race, Gender, and W.E. B. DuBois’s Advocacy of Women Suffrage” DuBois articulates, “Women are mothers of men; if men vote, why not women” (29). As a result, Dubois believes everyone should have the right to vote, no matter what gender because he believes in equality and in justice. In fact, many scholars claim DuBois is a successor to Frederick Douglass by leading the way to equal opportunities for women’s rights. From her standpoint, Watkins explains how black men, have nonetheless been unfairly described by some feminists and women’s suffrage activists as opponents of women suffrage. Watkins discusses DuBois’s view on African American and women suffrage, “In a number of editorials, sought to reconstruct the linkages between women suffrage and the Black suffrage struggle by emphasizing the common ground between two political objectives” (7). As editor in the NAACP, DuBois used his credentials to widely disseminate his views of political equality for women and demonstrate how franchising women was in the service to the larger cause of justice. Most importantly, the critic writes out DuBois’s three main points of voting

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