WEB_DuBois_V._Booker_T._Washington

WEB DuBois V. Booker T. Washington The Distinctly Different Viewpoints of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois The life of an African-American in the late 1800s and early 1900s was one of poverty without education or equality. After the Civil War ended, the South was war-torn and impoverished and under Reconstruction. Almost all whites in that region held prejudice and racist views towards blacks and did not want them as equals in society. Legally, blacks were “equal citizens,” but socially they were far from it. It is a reach to even call African-Americans during the Reconstruction era citizens. They were primarily treated as second-class beings who happened to live on the same land and breath the same air as their white counterparts. Many blacks were fighting to simply stay alive, not to get civil rights and equality. For many, simply ridding themselves of slavery was enough, but others wanted more. Two of these forward-looking men were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. These two dissimilar men held extremely distinct and different viewpoints in regard to how to enhance the black economy, gain black equality, and rid themselves of their dependence on whites. Washington believed in teaching washington, blacks, whites, equality, du, bois, web, booker, dubois, black, economic, complete, civil, african-americans, slavery, because, rights, gain, equals, education, slaves, pageant, both, between, believed, american, wanted, social, respect, over, men, issues, forced, clash, become