3 Negros

In the period after Reconstruction the position of African Americans in southern American society steadily deteriorated. After 1877 the possibilities of advancements for African Americans disappeared almost completely. African Americans experienced a loss of voting rights and political power created by methods of terrorization such as lynching. The remaining political and economic gains that were made during reconstruction were eventually whittled away by Southern legislation. By the 1900s African Americans had almost no access to political, social, or economic power. Shortly after this Jim Crow laws began to emerge, segregating blacks and whites. This dramatic transition from African American power to powerlessness after reconstruction gave birth to two important leaders in the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although these two remarkable men were both in search of a common goal, their roads leading to this goal were significantly different. This is most evident in the two most important documents of the men's careers: Booker T. Washington's, "1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech" and W.E.B. DuBois' response to this, "The Souls of Black Folks." These two men were both dedicated to solving the difficult problems African Americans experienced in the post reconstruction south. Both DuBois and Washington wanted economic prosperity for African Americans but they differed on what would be done to achieve this. Both men focused on education as a key to the improvement of black life but they differed on the form education should take. The true difference in these men's extremely different routes to better the lives of African Americans after reconstruction was a product of their extremely different backgrounds. In this essay I will examine the documents, "1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech" by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois', "The Souls of Black Folks" in order to determine the paths that each of these men took towards the advancement of African Americans, and the reasons behind these methods.

DuBois and Washington came from extremely different backgrounds. These differences are essential to understanding why each of these men went about trying to achieve progress for their race in the way they did. DuBois, the son of free parents, was born a free man and grew up in a white environment with more privileges and advantages than the majority of African Americans living in the United States at that time. He suffered neither severe economic hardship nor from repeated encounters with racism. In contrast, Booker T. Washington was born a slave on a Virginia plantation. In the first chapter of his Autobiography, Up From Slavery, he states, "My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings." This is in direct contrast with the life of W.E.B. Dubois. After the Civil War Washington and his family were declared free. Washington worked his way up from being a slave and eventually became a student at the Hampton Institute in Virginia. These extremely different backgrounds effected both of these men's political, social, and economic views. Throughout his life Washington had a pessimistic view of whites and saw the only way to achieve progress was to tell whites what they wanted to hear. DuBois had a more optimistic view. Growing up mostly with whites DuBois has a romantic belief in America. He believes that whites have a morality deep down that only needs to be stirred up. At a time when more than one hundred African Americans were lynched each year in the south Washington's perception seems much more realistic.

The debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois reflected the economic despair that African Americans in the South felt. The Southern economy was suffering from its extreme racism and Washington saw this as an opportunity to create economic opportunities for blacks. Booker T. Washington's, "Atlanta Exposition Speech" was given at an industrial fair in Atlanta, Georgia. The Industrial fair was the showcase for the new south and a symbol of the progress the south had made in industry since the end of the civil war. It was the perfect place to make a speech advocating that Southern business owners, "Cast down your buckets where you are." Meaning they use the labor of blacks which was readily available around them. To further entice white capitalists he evoked images of blacks as the loyal servants they had been as