Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Chapter 17 Section 3 critical Thinking #5

Chapter 17 Section 3 Critical Thinking #5


5) Why did W.E.B. Du Bois oppose Booker T. Washington’s views on racial discrimination?

W.E.B. Du Bois disagreed with Booker T. Washington’s views on racial discrimination because Washington believed that segregation was permissible and that the poverty of the black people was the fault of the black people, and telling them to “accept discrimination” (p. 531). Du Bois wanted immediate social and economic equality for African Americans. What Du Bois wrote of on his opposition to Washington was this:
“So far Mr. Washington preaches Thrift, Patience, and Industrial Training for the masses, we must hold up his hands and strive with him…But so far as Mr. Washington apologizes for injustice, North or South, does not rightly value the privilege and duty of voting, belittles the emasculating effects of caste distinctions, and opposes the higher training and ambition of our brighter minds—so far as he, the South, or the Nation, does this—we must unceasingly and firmly oppose them.” –W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of the Black People (p. 531).
Understandably, Du Bois believed that it wasn’t excusable for discrimination and segregation to exist. While Washington seemed to be content with what the people had, Du Bois wanted something better for his race, and pushed for racial equality, which was not an important issue during the Progressive Era.

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