Liberty and Justice for All

Although both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. De Bois had widely differing views on blacks’ best strategy for gaining equality in society, they were both great American leaders and made significant progress to their causes. This is essential to remember lest we undermine the change to which they devoted their lives.

When analyzing the philosophies of both Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. De Bois, it is important to consider that these men came from vastly different circumstances. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in 1956 to a slave mother and a white father, who was a nearby planter. W.E.B. De Bois, on the other hand, was born in 1968, a free man to an African American mother and French Huguenot and African American father. Experiencing the difficult and oppressive life of a slave, Booker T. Washington did not gain the status of a free man until he was nine years old; therefore he understood the meaning of slavery in a very different way than De Bois ever could. In addition, Washington lived through the Civil War, while De Bois was born three years after it ended. These differences alone must change these men’s views of their culture and their place in society. Obviously, neither men lived easy lives in an easy time, but they experienced different hardships and different cultures.

Booker T. Washington’s beliefs that blacks must educate themselves, take up the trades, and seek the respect of the white man to earn equal rights is not far off from the beliefs of Fredrick Douglass, the renowned abolitionist. He, like Washington, urged that blacks should join society by trying to add something of value to their community. W. E. B. De Bois also believed that blacks should educate themselves and be active in society, however he did not share Washington’s “don’t rock the boat” theory. He pledged that the only way that blacks could ever gain equal rights with whites was to demand and fight for them. Although the text presents these two men’s views as opposite, it seems that they both may have truth in them. I suggest that though the men’s views are different, they are not complete opposites. Some of these differences were created by the enormous changes that occurred in the culture during the time of their birth. Because he was born a slave, Washington assumedly experienced great fear and bondage as a child. Whether or not he was treated fairly by his owners, the status of a slave still constitutes that the person does not belong to him or herself. When he was a slave, it is probable that he operated under the rules of playing fair with white people; if you rock the boat, you get hurt. This may be the origin of his later political views.

However, without the work of men like W. E. B. De Bois—men of action and leadership—the road to equal rights for blacks would have been an exceedingly sluggish one. It wasn’t until 1910, when De Bois was already 40 years old, that he founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He had spent his entire life under racial prejudice and persecution, so it is unsurprising that he felt it was time for action. Action begets change. It is significant to remember that our country was founded by men, like De Bois, of action, who took enormous risks for the sake of America, who had faith that change was possible, and who weren’t afraid to step on toes to win their objective.

Therefore, I would argue that De Bois led the more effective reform for racial equality. We owe a great deal to men like Washington for his work towards racial equality, but without men such as W. E. B. De Bois, America would never have become the country that it is today—truly a country with liberty and justice for all.