Booker T. Washington's "The Atlanta Exposition Address" and the criticism from W.E.B. Du Bois

        Washington's "Atlanta Compromise" speech stated that vocational education (a form of education in which people are provided with practical skills which will allow them to engage in careers which involve manual or practical abilities)gave blacks an opportunity for economic security and was more valuable than social advantages. One of the quotes in the chapter summarizes the Washington's idea really well: "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." In order to remain peaceful and to be socially separated, the whites should accept responsibility for improving the social and economic conditions of the blacks. Washington wanted the support from the white race and to have the opportunity for success in the work places. However, he is willing to give up getting into the political world and even abandon the eagerness of striving to be equal. Furthermore, he admitted blacks' inferiority and garantied their loyalty to their employers. 

        While Washington was focusing on vocational education for his race and white leasers in the South and the North agree with him, other black intellectuals feared that Washington's philosophy could doom the blacks. The most active one was W. E. B. Du Bois. In his "The Souls of Black Folk," the third chapter is titled as "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others," and stated that "Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission...[His] program practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races." Du Bois, on the other hand, advocated fully civil rights. 

        In my opinion, I agree with both Washington's and Du Bois's point of views. However,  in different circumstances, the two philosophy would have to cooperate with each other to earn freedom for the blacks. I understand that how Washington thought that it was more important to earn a job from the whited than to fight for social equality. Since one third of the southern population was black race, the whites were feared that the African Americans would rule them as soon as they got freedom. Therefore, Washington explained that they were willing to make compromise to give up their social equality in order to earn the money and to feed themselves. However, the African Americans should still keep in mind what Du Bois talked about, they are not inferior to the whites; this is just the really first step of fighting for equality.