Grady Jakobsberg Red Group African American Equality Essay In the 1890s, African Americans were free from

slavery, but just entering segregation. Many figures came sprouting up trying to help the blacks gain equality through different influence. Two figures, Booker T Washington and WEB DuBois wrote different essays confirming their beliefs on African American equality. Booker T Washington harvests the belief that for African Americans to gain equality they must show their worth through their work, while WEB DuBois strives for equal treatment enforced by the government, giving African Americans the same opportunity as whites. According to Washington, African Americans have forgotten the fact that they shall prosper in proportion as *they+ learn to dignify and glorify common labor. Blacks simply need to enter back into the work force to gain the respect of Americans. Washington promises that African Americans, given the chance, will till their fields, clean their cloths, and run their factories, and this will result, the American will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding, and unresentful people the world has ever seen. He goes on to describe protests and other events for social equality as the extremest folly and artificial forcing. The government will not support any race that has *nothing+ to contribute to the markets and African Americans should get all privileges of the law, but should be prepared for using those privileges. Overall, that race needs to gain economic independence and they are preventing themselves from getting that by concerning themselves with getting equality through the government. WEB DuBois would disagree to some extent to the views of Washington, for he feels that everything will follow after the African Americans have gained political equality and be able to vote, uninfluenced. He feels that the cause of segregation is the government and most of the white Americans who see race as something to separate people. DuBois demands the enforcement of the Constitution and Fourteenth Amendment and thinks, Separation in railway and street cars, based simply on race or

color, is un-American, undemocratic and silly He says, We ourselves are workers, but work is not necessarily educations, and this sets him aside from Washington how states that work is what they should be striving for. DuBois wants African American children especially, to have equal rights enforced because of education. African Americans should be fighting for equal treatment and the end of segregation. The African American population and government went with DuBoiss philosophy. He had other ideas that werent mentioned in his writing that he named the Talented Tenth. This was a small group of college-educated blacks (Booker T. and DEB) to guide the black population in their call for civil rights. An article by PBS states that he contributed to the Civil Rights movement and his theories exploded in the 1960s. DuBois and Washington were familiar with one anothers work and disagreed. Washingtons ideas were good but not seen as effective today. Blacks were measured as scientifically inferior throughout the country and getting back to the workforce with decent jobs was proving hard and ineffective, but African American rights organizations were made such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) which was partly founded by WEB DuBois. While DuBoiss ideas triumphed over Washingtons, both men were great figures with well followed ideas. Washington wanted equality to be won through the economy, with the blacks reentering the workforce. DuBois started civil rights organizations and encouraged the Talented Tenth to gain equality through protests for equal treatment, which starts from government enforcement. These men and their push for equality saved African Americans from the horrors of the Jim Crow Laws and lynching and transformed that era into a new era of hope for African Americans. Many folks migrated to the North and West to find better lives and Harlem became the Negro capital of the world showing the first signs of the great civil rights movements led by Martin Luther King Jr. Although the philosophies of these men conflicted, they both had a common dream of equal opportunity for blacks that would lead to a brighter future for African Americans in the United States.

Works Cited "Booker T. and W.E.B." Frontline. PBS, n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html>. "We Shall Overcome Black History in America." Random History. N.p., 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.randomhistory.com/black-history-in-america.html>.