Historical Problem

Andrew Plyler

Mr. Milstead

6th Hour

Document Assignment

Many people had their own take on the attitude of the South in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Some of the most famous, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, T. Thomas Fortune, and Ida Wells Barnett still have their opinions being published in stories and books. This paper will look at those people and their own take on how the south was treating blacks and how they disagreed with those southerners. These documents point out almost exactly what was wrong with the south and how these authors wanted to improve it. These people realized how wrongly they were being treated all because they have a different color pigmentation of their skin, and took advantage of their power to write powerful and moving pieces to try to give people an idea of what they were really enduring.

Document D- Booker T. Washington got a good grasp on what his mind was thinking in this piece. Instead of coming right out and saying the point that he’s trying to make, he uses imagery to represent things, and if you don’t pay attention then you’ll miss it. He gives a good amount of information as to how they are being treated as minorities in the south and what people are doing. What some people don’t realize is how much pain and agony that African Americans really went through during this time period. The K.K.K. was a big part in the suffering of African Americans in this era. Ironically, this isn’t what the group was originally formed to do. It was originally a group that was meant to restore order to the southern government. Even Nathan Bedford Forrest, who originally formed the group and gave it life left the group because it was getting too violent. After he left it continued to grow more and more violent and people were dying by the dozens. In effect, Booker T. Washington felt the consequences of the group getting out of hand and used his knowledge to try and influence people to realize what they were doing was really in fact wrong and that African Americans shouldn’t be treated any way else than other people.

Document E- W.E.B. Dubois also does a very good job at trying to explain what to do to stop racism and ensure rights for African Americans. He explains that if all African Americans band together, they really can make a difference and change the world. He lists important rights that if given to African Americans will change the world and