During this period, Southern African Americans were not treated well because the soldiers and troops that were fixed in the South to help and protect the rights of the African Americans had been removed. As a community they were being disenfranchised, discriminated, segregated, placed under the Jim Crow laws, had to deal with the grandfather clause, and had to pay high poll taxes. Many people spoke out and stood up for African American rights. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were two African American civil rights activists during this period. Although they were fighting for a common goal, their tactics and fashions of doing things certainly were not because they came from different background and experiences of life. Booker T. Washington
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Du Bois had a very different background and views. He was an African American man born into a free family in 1868 in Massachusetts. Growing up, he attended an integrated primary school. Du Bois was a very well educated man and became the first African American man to earn a doctorate degree from Harvard University. Du Bois’ views contrasted completely with those of Washington. He believed in agitation and radicalism, not gradualism. He felt that the African Americans should have jumped right into society and not start at the bottom. Du Bois believed that by gradually allowing African Americans into society was selling them out. He was a strong believer in education. He proposed the idea that the most intelligent African Americans should be able to be included in society immediately. This is known as the “talented tenth”. He also founded the Niagara Movement, which insisted that African Americans should seek a liberal arts education, so that the entire African American community would have well educated leaders. His background affected his philosophy because he had a very privileged lifestyle, so therefore he felt that all African Americans should have similar privileges and lives. He almost had things immediately handed to him, so he didn’t want to wait for the rights and inclusion of African Americans to come at a gradual
Du Bois had a very different background and views. He was an African American man born into a free family in 1868 in Massachusetts. Growing up, he attended an integrated primary school. Du Bois was a very well educated man and became the first African American man to earn a doctorate degree from Harvard University. Du Bois’ views contrasted completely with those of Washington. He believed in agitation and radicalism, not gradualism. He felt that the African Americans should have jumped right into society and not start at the bottom. Du Bois believed that by gradually allowing African Americans into society was selling them out. He was a strong believer in education. He proposed the idea that the most intelligent African Americans should be able to be included in society immediately. This is known as the “talented tenth”. He also founded the Niagara Movement, which insisted that African Americans should seek a liberal arts education, so that the entire African American community would have well educated leaders. His background affected his philosophy because he had a very privileged lifestyle, so therefore he felt that all African Americans should have similar privileges and lives. He almost had things immediately handed to him, so he didn’t want to wait for the rights and inclusion of African Americans to come at a gradual