Compare And Contrast Essay

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Up From Slavery by Booker T Washington and The souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois (Comparison and Contrast)

Both Booker T. Washington and WEB Dubois had some grounds regarding social justice. In this context, both opposed segregation and exploitation. The overall approach of Booker T. Washington made him prominent in the African-American community. In "Up from Slavery," he emphasized the significance of education, he believed that African-American could get their rights through education. Furthermore, he focused on integrating academic subjects with learning a trade which is a significant aspect of educational theories. Washington stressed that practical subjects were imperative to educate black people. According to him, education was imperative to get rid of discrimination and building good relations with white people.

In "Up from Slavery," the author gave the reader a picture regarding the life of slaves which was miserable before independence. Moreover, he strongly advocated equal rights for the Black community. He considered freedom as a way ideal life and discussed regarding the reunion of slaves with their families, and then there should be equal opportunities for employment for both African-Americans and White-Americans (Washington, Booker). Similarly, Dubois was of the view that poor education had weakened the African-American community. For Back community to get equal rights, education was the key for them (Washington, Booker). Dubois highlighted the issues of political and economic slavery, and he wanted social justice in the overall system of the country. Dubois called for an active demand for social justice, and for that purpose, he was not willing to settle on anything less than pure equality.

According to Washington, to gain equal rights, the priority of African-Americans should be to become equal economically, and then they should demonstrate that they are responsible African-American people, who have the ability to offer something to society. Further, they should focus on vocational training (Du Bois). In contrast to Washington, the political views of Dubois were a bit radical because both of them belonged to a different background. Also, Dubois spent his life in fear of being lynched as he had seen the lynching of many African-Americans. Unlike Washington, Dubois believed that African-Americans were in need of a strong from college-educated class. Only vocational education or training was not enough to earn equal rights for African-Americans (Du Bois).

In addition, Bois presented the concept of an elite/educated community of African-American guiding majority of African-Americans to be well-versed in different areas of study, and understand their rights. He was in favor of centralized leadership. This idea presented by Du Bois was “talented tenth.” Unlike Washington, Dubois was not the advocate of gradual change through vocational training; instead, he believed that Africans who got the education from White Americans' Institutions could play a significant role in bringing and gaining equal rights for the African-Americans.

Black Lives Matter movement began in the year 2013, after the release of George Zimmerman in the shooting of an African American (Rickford, Russell). Like Washington’s and Dubois’s approach, the movement was against the discrimination against African-American. The US is a multicultural country, and that is why the perception of the population differs according to the race. However, the concept of “All Lives Matter” came in response to movement of “Black Lives Matter," and it sounds more appropriate because it talks about the equality for every single individual irrespective of race, color, and religion. American society has evolved since the time of Washington and Dubois, now African-American have more rights compared to before (Brundage, William Fitzhugh). Yet, some discriminatory incidents may happen, and for that individuals must be held responsible not the whole White-community.

Works Cited

Brundage, William Fitzhugh, ed. Booker T. Washington and Black progress: Up from slavery 100 years later. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003.

Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt, and Manning Marable. Souls of black folk. Routledge, 2015.

Rickford, Russell. "Black lives matter: Toward a modern practice of mass struggle." New Labor Forum. Vol. 25. No. 1. Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, 2016.

Washington, Booker T. Up from slavery. Simon and Schuster, 2013.