Oppressed, condemned and suppressed, Black Americans living during the 1890s through 1920 encountered the lowest point of their suffering as a people since slavery. African Americans were forced to sharecrop to survive, and they were lynched and brutalized for trying to attain the rights, positions, and pleasures their white counterparts enjoyed. Many had little to no education and were subject to poverty and death. Rayford Logan, an African American historian, later dubbed this time period as the Nadir of Black Life in America. Thankfully, at this time, leaders such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois rose to improve and lead Black Americans. Regardless of the fact that Washington was much more popular among the Black population, both
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Washington’s plans to uplift African Americans were also more practical than Du Bois’s due to the high levels of illiteracy among the Black population. Washington noticed that “Black disenfranchisement and illiteracy was getting more entrenched in American society,” so, he wanted Black people to focus on obtaining a vocational education (Brown). Carson makes it clear that “ only about one in three African Americans had access to schooling, and only one in a thousand attended college” (291). There were not many schools for Black people to attend and not many had the money to get educated. It is logical that Washington approached this issue by convincing wealthy white people to provide money and help educate African Americans. In his Atlanta Exposition Address, Washington states that rather than trying to hinder the development of African Americans, white people should participate in “making [African Americans] the most useful and intelligent citizen[s].” He also states that by aiding in the improvement of Black people, they would “buy [their] surplus land, make blossom the waste places in [their] fields, and run [their] factories” (Washington). Washington convinced white people that they would gain more from encouraging them, instead of inhibiting them. This way Black people were able to gain an education to occupy jobs that would help them provide for their families. In addition, they were able to prosper even though their jobs were not seen as …show more content…
By demanding and protesting for their rights like Du Bois suggested, Black people would not have obtained their rights. During the Nadir of Black Life, white people saw African Americans as inferior and they portrayed them as dangerous brutes. In The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, the commentators mentioned that “history, biology, psychology, sociology, philosophy...talked about African Americans as being inferior...and not worthy of equal treatment.” This expresses that whites were nowhere near ready to accept the fact that African Americans were human beings just like them and deserved equal rights. In addition, the white senator of Mississippi, Senator James K. Vardaman made it clear that “wherever the negro is in sufficient numbers to imperil the white man’s civilization or question the white man’s supremacy the white man is going to find some way around the difficulty.” This expresses African Americans protesting and demanding their rights would not be very effective because white people would dangerously react. The most reasonable thing to do was to work within the Jim Crow system like Washington
Washington’s plans to uplift African Americans were also more practical than Du Bois’s due to the high levels of illiteracy among the Black population. Washington noticed that “Black disenfranchisement and illiteracy was getting more entrenched in American society,” so, he wanted Black people to focus on obtaining a vocational education (Brown). Carson makes it clear that “ only about one in three African Americans had access to schooling, and only one in a thousand attended college” (291). There were not many schools for Black people to attend and not many had the money to get educated. It is logical that Washington approached this issue by convincing wealthy white people to provide money and help educate African Americans. In his Atlanta Exposition Address, Washington states that rather than trying to hinder the development of African Americans, white people should participate in “making [African Americans] the most useful and intelligent citizen[s].” He also states that by aiding in the improvement of Black people, they would “buy [their] surplus land, make blossom the waste places in [their] fields, and run [their] factories” (Washington). Washington convinced white people that they would gain more from encouraging them, instead of inhibiting them. This way Black people were able to gain an education to occupy jobs that would help them provide for their families. In addition, they were able to prosper even though their jobs were not seen as …show more content…
By demanding and protesting for their rights like Du Bois suggested, Black people would not have obtained their rights. During the Nadir of Black Life, white people saw African Americans as inferior and they portrayed them as dangerous brutes. In The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, the commentators mentioned that “history, biology, psychology, sociology, philosophy...talked about African Americans as being inferior...and not worthy of equal treatment.” This expresses that whites were nowhere near ready to accept the fact that African Americans were human beings just like them and deserved equal rights. In addition, the white senator of Mississippi, Senator James K. Vardaman made it clear that “wherever the negro is in sufficient numbers to imperil the white man’s civilization or question the white man’s supremacy the white man is going to find some way around the difficulty.” This expresses African Americans protesting and demanding their rights would not be very effective because white people would dangerously react. The most reasonable thing to do was to work within the Jim Crow system like Washington