Washington Vs. Du Bois

In his speech at the Atlanta Exposition, Mr. Booker T. Washington states his claim for the Negro race. In this speech he claims that 1/3rd of the population of the south is of the Negro race and that, if given a chance in society, they will make a difference in a positive way; they would not be a burden. This rise of the Negro race as an equal in the American society would happen over time, not over night. Mr. Washington states that the White Population of America fears that the Negro population would ruin our society, but he begs to differ. "Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in pulling the load upward, or they will pull against you the load downward. We shall constitute one-third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South, or one-third its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one-third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we shall prove a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing, retarding every effort to advance the body politic" (762-763). This statement says that Mr. Washington agrees that if change isnt made soon towards the equal rights for the Negro race in the South, that they will become what everyone else fears: ignorance, crime, and death.

W.E.B. Du Bois, although he respects Mr. Washington's stand, disagrees with what he said at the Atlanta Exposition. Du Bois quotes this statement from Washington by saying that it was the most notable thing in Mr. Washington's career: "In all things purely social we can be as separate as the five fingers, and yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress" (885). This notion stated by Washington, Du Bois agrees with. But, there are other things from his speech that Du Bois does not agree with.

Mr. Washington's idea was to essentially surrender some civil and political rights in exchange for future considerations to larger chances of economic development for the Negro race. "Mr. Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things,--
First, political power,
Second, insistence on civil rights,
Third, higher education of the Negro youth,--" (889).

Du Bois completely disagrees with this (I do as well) because aren't those three things the basis of our equal rights in America right now? How can a major leader for the Negro race ask his people to give up essentially what it is that they are striving for all on the idea that it might, and i stress might, be beneficial in the long run? Du Bois goes on to say that members of this nation should feel that they have the right to ask for three things: 1. The right to vote 2. Civic Equality 3. The education of youth according to ability (890). But, my god, arent these the three things that Washington asks his race to give up for the time being? I now see where the bitterness of Du Bois and the Negro race comes from towards Mr. Washington's speech at the Atlanta Exposition.