The Debate on Elevating the African American Community in Early Twentieth Century America

In the early twentieth century Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois debated the best approaches to lifting up the African American race. Du Bois recognized intellectual labor, alongside higher education, as the best means to empower the African American community. In contrast, Washington’s goals were much more modest. He encouraged blacks to concentrate on enriching themselves through agriculture, technical skills, commerce, and domestic service. Once financially empowered, they could anticipate eventually being valued by whites as respectable community members deserving of full civil rights. Du Bois rejected this approach, claiming that Washington’s teachings allowed the white population to place the problem of racial injustice back on African Americans, when in truth the problem was the entire country’s problem.

Washington insisted blacks seek political rights only after financial success. His more immediate goal was African American economic advancement. He insisted that blacks couldn’t force social equality. Rather, they should instead accept their place in the world and gradually improve it. He believed that African American progress could occur only if blacks accommodated whites in southern states. Washington encouraged blacks to accept social segregation in return for white support. He was willing to accept public discrimination as long as blacks and whites cooperated toward their mutual financial goals. Washington soothed his white audience with the words, “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” Once blacks succeeded in building up their wealth, they could expect more respect from whites as fellow citizens. Washington used the story of his own life as proof of his message. As a black man, he started out with nothing and rose to become a prominent figure in America, supported only by the sweat of his brow and the toil of his hands. This viewpoint won him a sizable white following. President Roosevelt even invited him to dinner in the White House, making him the first African American to obtain this privilege. Unsurprisingly, the invitation irritated some whites and caused strenuous objections through the white community.

Du Bois argued black progress was impossible without political rights. He encouraged blacks to demand their rights as citizens and human beings. America’s black population had grown from the seeds of American slavery and discrimination, but could no longer accept inequality. He argued that blacks should not give up their self-respect by submitting to civic inferiority.

Both men agreed that education was important. The major differences lie in their educational backgrounds. Washington was born a slave in Virginia. He pulled himself up in social status by developing an unquenchable desire to get an education. Virginia’s Hampton Institute allowed him to enroll based on his ability to sweep the floors. He learned vocational skills there and then entered a trade. Because of his background, he valued learning practical skills and championed vocational education. Washington followed the example of Hampton Institute when he founded his own school in 1881, the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. Although Washington did not fail to include higher levels of education in his list of appropriate occupations for African Americans, he believed there was “as much dignity in tilling a field as writing a poem.”

This is in stark contrast to Du Bois’s background and beliefs. Du Bois graduated with a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University and attended the University of Berlin. He became America’s leading African American intellectual in the first half of the twentieth century. Du Bois insisted that the most intelligent African American men should obtain an elite education, and then use this knowledge to educate those less gifted, thus spreading higher education throughout the African American community.

He insisted that the most intellectually capable African American men should obtain an elite education, and then use this knowledge to educate those less gifted, thus spreading higher education throughout the African American community. In one of his most famous essays, “The Talented Tenth,” Du Bois identified education, along with work, as the levers that would uplift the Negro Race. It was not the common drudgery of the ordinary blacks but the intellectual labor of the best and brightest that would lead and elevate African Americans. This was an important distinction for Du Bois. He sought truly meaningful and uplifting work, which required higher education. Although education was at the heart of both their messages, it was the level of education that caused the widest divide between them.

Washington encouraged blacks to work with whites toward financial progress. He insisted blacks should prove their economic worth to whites before demanding equality. He embraced self-help as the best way to end African American poverty. He helped popularize the notion that blacks should focus on economic growth first, politics and civil rights later.

Washington called for African Americans to work for their salvation through economic advancement, and for southern whites to help them on this path. His goal was to build African American financial strength. His supporters agreed that economic power would have to precede any aspirations of political power. Washington did not focus on starting at the top. Instead, he encouraged African Americans to start where they were in life to improve their financial circumstances, in farming, mechanical skills, business, and home service, among other jobs. His message was for blacks to start at the bottom and work their way up. Washington encouraged blacks to recognize the opportunities made available in the southern commercial world. He glorified common labor and blacks living by the production of their hands in exchange for prosperity. Once African Americans put their brains and skills into everyday occupations, material prosperity would be available to the community. Washington believed that economic advancement was more important to African Americans in the South than civil rights. This went against the thinking of Du Bois for the advancement of African Americans.

Du Bois insisted economic advancement was virtually impossible for blacks unless they had equal rights, including equal access to advanced education. He believed that if blacks made money the objective of training men, they would become “makers of money” but not necessarily “makers of men.” He was more interested in building black leaders in the community. He thought it was a mistake for African Americans to make financial advancement the sole purpose of working. Rather, the community should identify the talented few men of learning. These men should have goals higher than just making a living. He believed that the purpose was not to make “men into workers” but to make “workers into men.” There were two stages of making a worker into a man. The first stage was to place generously trained teachers in the community where they worked. The trained teachers would then teach the workers along with their entire family about the meaning of life. The second stage was to give the workers the necessary intelligence and skill for them to be competent workers in the community. The two stages required an African American college and African American professors. Only a few quality colleges were needed with only a few of the most capable professors in order to raise the “Talented Tenth” to leadership. The primary objective was to develop a select group of blacks to lead the community. Common labor would not accomplish the objective without being led by the right standards and intelligently directed. Education was necessary not just to learn a skill but also to learn the meaning of life. Du Bois had a vision of turning the top ten percent of the African American community into thought leaders. He wanted blacks to become champions of the culture and lead their race to higher levels.

Both Washington and Du Bois recognized the common inheritance of persecution among African Americans in the country, but they debated on the key approaches for racial uplift. Du Bois supported intellectual labor and higher education as the key to elevating the African American community. Washington, in contrast, insisted blacks should first seek the accumulation of wealth before fighting for political power and civil rights. Once financially empowered, they could anticipate eventually being valued by whites as respectable community members. Du Bois insisted Washington placed too much of the blame on blacks. Instead, the problem was to be placed on the entire country. The great divide between Washington and Du Bois was because of their respective positions on political authority, public privileges, education, and the best means to financial success.