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Personal dislikes and the bones of contention
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5.3 Personal dislikes and the bones of contentionAlthough the policies of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois differ, they strive for the same goal. Washington worked to provide job skills for African-American people through industrial training. He believed that through hard work, self-help, and cooperation with whites, African-Americans could improve their condition of life. DuBois also saw the importance of industrial training and self-help. However, his main aim was to gain African-Americans the political power and higher education for them to be able to pursue their quest for equality. He also felt that African-Americans should be trained for positions of leadership, and came to believe that his people should work for complete equality and full rights as citizens, which deviates from Washington’s idea that everybody should contribute, in other words, to contribute to the community; be able to be a self-help. Nevertheless, their notion for the common goal, to uplift the African-American society, was not strong enough to make them cooperate, and perhaps achieve the goal faster or even achieve something greater. The following quote from The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois, page 243, shows Du Bois’s disillusion of Washington. Their personal differences, and more importantly their values hampered their cooperation: This was followed by two interviews with Mr. Washington himself. ...The results to me were disappointing. Booker T. Washington was not an easy person to know. He was wary and silent. He never expressed himself frankly or clearly until he knew exactly to whom he was talking and just what their wishes and desires were. He did not know me, and I think he was suspicious. On the other hand, I was quick, fast-speaking and voluble. I had nothing to conceal. I found at the end of the first interview that I had done practically all the talking and that no clear and definite offer or explanation of my proposed work at Tuskegee had been made. In fact, Mr. Washington had said about as near nothing as was possible. Washington’s strong personality plus their background differences are probably the reason of why they did not get along. The differences in their ideologies of how to guide African Americans towards autonomy and bettering their educational levels overall was crucial to a dispute that has been going on in the African American community throughout their rise. For example, Du Bois in The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois mentions a case of a young African-American man who had fresh ideas about uplifting African Americans which he applied on himself and addressed his project to Washington: Mr. Washington would not say a word in favor of his project. He simply kept still…Mr. Washington did not agree with this. "This obviously enraged the young man and when asked he replied: … 'I don’t care a damn what Booker Washington thinks. This is what I think, and I have a right to think. ' This was not just the young man’s attitude towards Washington, but of many other African Americans as well, and more importantly of W.E.B. Du Bois: "It was this point, and not merely disagreement with Mr. Washington’s plans, that brought eventually violent outbreak. It was more than opposition to a program of education. It was opposition to a system and that system was part of the economic development of the United States at that time. The fight cut deep: it went into social relations; it divided friends; it made bitter enemies. Washington’s approach worked for him, he most likely did not want to accept any other ideas just because he thought that people who did not endure slavery (or not as much as he did) were not to make better decisions and that is why he refused anything that did not go along his lines of his conviction. Du Bois admired Washington and even wanted to join Tuskegee institute to help with the preparations, and even agreed with the importance of the economic power. But after a short time and analyzing Washington’s values, which were not what Du Bois considered as the utmost importance in helping African-American society. Du Bois states this in his autobiography, page 244: "I was increasingly uncomfortable under the statements of Mr. Washington’s position: his depreciation of the value of the vote; his evident dislike of Negroes upon the Negroes themselves rather than upon the whites. And above all I resented the Tuskegee Machine." What African-American society needed during that time was unity, which could have been provided by these two leaders If the struggles of realizing their ideologies were to be made, one can see that in both cases (as they mention in their autobiographies often) the struggle were mostly financial issues. By merging together Tuskegee Institute and the NAACP organization they would have more than enough to support their claims. That would also mean that African-American community would remain united and would not have to be divided into these two camps which were in direct opposition to one another. However, that would mean that they would have to conjure up some kind of consensus that would find balance between industrial and vocational education, and between the political and economic power. Perhaps providing both industrial and academic education would make sufficient and strong participants of society that would be able to both contribute to the society and provide the society with leadership position that would create new opportunities. It is hard to determine what should have been done, but providing more views and angles what could be done, learned or achieved by doing either industrial or academic education, or in the best case both, could build a much better foundation to achieve autonomy and possible unite the society (meaning Washington’s and Du Bois’s followers) and not divide it into two oppositions. In order to achieve all this, personal dislikes would have to be cast aside. Washington was unable to do that. The work The Envy of Erudition describes Washington’s envy of Du Bois’s intellectuality and how Washington was unable to reach such a level. Therefore, Washington became opposed to that, which may be the reason of his diversity in ideology and grudge against Du Bois and more importantly higher education. We can see this envy even in his early stages of life, where he envied the little boys ability to read and write. Here is a quote from The Envy of Erudition which describes his ill-thoughts towards those with higher education: "'The students [at the theology school], in most cases, had more money, were better dressed, wore the latest style of all manner of clothing, and in some cases were more brilliant mentally'...The autobiography then continues with Washington’s indictment of how these academically 'gifted' students were yet ill-prepared for life as their life of fortune had presumably crippled them." 5.ConclusionAfrican-Americans had strived for freedom for a long time. After abolition of slavery they gained freedom, but only partially. After the Civil War, African-Americans had to make opportunities for themselves, but that was nearly impossible due to the discrimination. When Southern ideologies had been implemented into society once again, along with segregation, it seemed like without someone who would press the issues, their efforts would be lost. Two important African-Americans aroused to help this situation: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois. Booker T.Washington representing the industrial education, a former slave and the founder of Tuskegee Institute, who represents the more slow and passive approach in a quest for gaining African-Americans autonomy. He himself has undergone hard works like working in a salt mine in his very early age. His mentor Samuel C. Armstrong at Hampton school, who Washington admired the most, and from whom he accepted his teachings and beliefs, provided him with opportunity to go and start a career at a starting school Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Washington did not have the best conditions as he was forced to start teaching in churches, because they did not have enough funds, nor students. But he was patient and did not back up from the task he was given. He built Tuskegee from raising money from local folks and the help of the students who attended Tuskegee, so that Tuskegee became the most popular and largest school of that time. Tuskegee provided its students with industrial education so that they could contribute to the society as individual and build up economic power. Washington was very successful and even served as an ambassador for African-Americans by helping president Roosevelt in racial issues. However, some African-Americans did not agree with his ideas, because Washington preached that in order to gain autonomy, they should give up civil rights and political powers and earn their place in society by providing strong and reliable economic power and thus contribute to the society as much as they could, which would inevitably leave them in submissive position on the outskirts of the society. Some of the African-Americans came to Washington seeking help in realizing their ideas. However, Washington was known for being very close minded to new ideas and denied all the ideas that did not support his cause. One of the most notable people who came to Tuskegee seeking Washington’s help is W.E.B Du Bois. W.E.B Du Bois grew up in a tolerant neighborhood, therefore he did not have that much of an experience with discrimination and racism. He sought higher education and worked only in part-time jobs to pay for his school tuitions. He was a first African-American to earn Ph.D. at Harvard University, along with receiving Ph.D. at Fisk University in Tennessee and studying abroad at Berlin University. He also traveled across the Europe, notably around communist countries, where he adopted the notion of communism. He was unique in acquiring such a high education and from there he applies it into experience, and into his ideology. After his studies, he pursues his writing career in order to help African-American community in promoting his ideas and beliefs. In the year 1899 he coins the phrase talented tenth; the 10% of African-American community that are capable of leading, and through which equality would be gained. He acquired more of an aggressive approach. He also believed in economic power, however he promoted higher education and most importantly highlighted the importance of higher education, which according to him was the key in gaining the equality. He wanted to cooperate with the notion of Hampton, Tuskegee and most importantly with Washington. But Washington turned him down and in addition, Du Bois did not like his belittling of the importance of the civil rights. He then helped to form The Niagara Movement through which he wanted to promote his teachings. However, The Niagara Movement grew weary in its importance and thus it had to be merged with the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). By promoting civil rights, literature and art, and higher education he become an opposition to Washington, thus separating African-American community into two camps; pro-Washington and pro-Du Bois. These two leaders were reacting to each other and cherry-picking each other speeches from then on. Was their cooperation possible? The big difference in their backgrounds was alone significant enough to hamper their cooperation, but the main reason of their opposition was personal. Washington’s envy and inability to reach the high education of Du Bois made him refuse the cooperation that Du Bois sought and become his opponent and in direct opposition with people wanting higher education and civil rights. Even if they were to find a consensus in their ideologies and they would join forces which would mean unity in the African-American community (at least between their followers) and also more means to implement their ideas, they would have to cast aside their personal dislikes, which was probably impossible. Nevertheless, their teachings and ideologies remain to these days and are discussed by experts worldwide. All of their ideas were implemented (sometimes maybe in a slightly different form) in all spheres of their application, sometimes used even in speeches, f.e. paraphrased from Anthony Monteiro. a professor of African-American studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, used by Barrack Obama, who in one of his speeches used notions of neo-B.T. Washingtonism. Lastly, I would like to point out that I do not see ideologies of Washington and Du Bois as a choice of either-or. Both ideologies are important and should be present more or less. Whites, as well, would profit in upward mobility from substantive job training vs academic training. One of the phenomena that has done so much to harm our nation has been the debasement of practical skills over the acquisition of attitudes and degrees. .
W.E.B., Du Bois "The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century." New York: International, 1968. Print. W.E.B., Du Bois "The Souls of Black Folk " The Project Gutenberg EBook. January 29, 2008.Web
Brady, Marion. "African-Americans, 1865-1910." Marionbrady. N.p., 2013. Web. "Clash of the Titans: Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois. Curriculum Based Education Program, Grade 11." U.S. Department of Education. 2003. Web Frantz R., Nevin, Jr. "The Contributions of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois in the Development of Vocational Education" Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 1997. Web. Gibson III. L., Ernest "The Envy of Erudition: Booker T. Washington and the Desire for a Du Boisian Intellectuality" Paradigm Publishers. 2013. Web. Johnson , Keith V. and Watson, Elwood "The W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington Debate: Effects upon African American Roles in Engineering and Engineering Technology." Epsilon Pi Tau Incorporated. 2004. Web. "Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. DuBois." YouTube, uploaded by Mr. Simone's Flipped Classroom at Floral Park Memorial, 7 Jan. 2015. Web. "How W.E.B. Du Bois Changed Forever the Way Americans Think About Themselves (2000)." YouTube, uploaded by Remember This, 28 Dec. 2014. Web. "Implementing W.E.B. Du Bois' Ideas for Education." YouTube, uploaded by hanpub1, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. "W.E.B. Du Bois vs Booker T. Washington - Then and Now." YouTube, uploaded by TheRealNews, 20 Feb. 2013. Web. History.com Staff. "W. E. B. Du Bois." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 20 Nov. 2016. "W.E.B. Du Bois Biography."Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2016. Lewis, David L. W. E. B. Du Bois, 1868-1919: Biography of a Race. New York: H. Holt, 1993. Print. W.E.B., Du Bois "Niagara Movement Speech" TeachingAmericanHistory 1905.Web.
"W. E. B. Du Bois." 2016. The Famous People website. Nov 20 2016. Web. Kihss, Peter ."Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois Joins Communist Party at 93" The New York Times. Nov. 23, 1961. Web. Harlan, Louis R. "Booker T. Washington: the Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901-1915" Hilbert College. n/a. Web. ResuméThe purpose of my thesis is to analyze the ideologies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du bois, to elucidate them to the readers. The reason of my research is to try and find out whether cooperation between these two great African-American leaders was possible or not. The thesis is composed of four chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of the two leaders. Chapter One is introductory and defines basic means to be used in the thesis and also the purpose. The following two chapters focus on the summarization of Booker T. Washington’s and Du Bois’s lives. Their lives are fundamental for better understanding of their ideologies. Chapter Four is subdivided into two parts and provides insight into their ideologies. This chapter describes the basics of their ideologies. Part One illustrates the ideas of Washington and the Part Two illustrates those of Du Bois’s. Conclusions are drawn in Chapter Five. Chapter five is divided into three subchapters. The first one is dedicated to Washington’s speech and its analysis. Second subchapter is dedicated to Du Bois’s various commentaries on Washington and Du Bois’s own speeches. The final subchapter has a more of a hypothetical approach. What could happen if Washington and Du Bois would cooperate and how could it go. The main aim of the thesis is to ponder on the ideas of these two leaders and show their differences. I have reached a conclusion that cooperation between these two leaders is not possible due to their personal differences.
Práce je složena ze čtyř kapitol, kde každá z těchto kapitol se zabývá jinými aspekty obou představitelů. Kapitola první je úvodní kapitola a definuje prostředky, které jsou použity v práci a jejich účel použití. Následující dvě kapitoly jsou zaměřeny na shrnutí životů jak Booker T. Washingtona tak Du Boise. Jejich životy jsou klíčem pro hlubší porozumění jejich ideologií. Kapitola číslo čtyři je rozdělena do dvou podkapitol, které poskytují náhled do jejich ideologií. Část první zobrazuje Washingtonovi ideje, a druhá část ideje Du Boise. Tato kapitola popisuje základy jejich ideologií. Závěry jsou přiblíženy v kapitole páté. Kapitola číslo pět je rozdělena do tří podkapitol. První kapitola je věnována proslovu Wasingtona a jeho analýze. Druhá podkapitola je věnována různým komentářům a proslovu Du Boise. Finální podkapitola má spíše hypotetický přístup. Co by se mohlo stát, kdyby Washington a Du Bois spolu spolupracovali, a jak by se tato spolupráce mohla vyvíjet. Hlavním cílem této práce je polemizovat nad idejí těchto dvou představitelů a ukázat jejich rozdíly. Dosáhla jsem toho závěru, že spolupráce mezi těmato představiteli není možná z důvodu jejich osobních neshod Download 122.17 Kb. Share with your friends:
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