Mikayla Ferchaw
Pd. 4/5
DBQ for Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Du Bois
The Strategies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois: Uncovered The time period of 1877 to 1915 was a period in history when the people of the Black race were being granted a free status, but equality, on the other hand, was not an option to some higher white officials. During this time period, many leaders started to fight for what they believed in by appealing to the white governing body for social equality. Two of the leaders that came out of that uproar were the well-known Black equality activists of that time, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Both of these leaders ultimately had the same goal, however, the paths that they took to achieve
He wanted them to go to college to be able to stand up for themselves against the harsh government. The “School Enrollment By Race” graph displays that there is an increase in the education of Blacks from the time period of 1860-1920. Within the period of 1877-1915 alone, the percentage of Blacks receiving education increased from thirty-five percent to forty-five percent. This document could lead into W.E.B. Du Bois’s main focus, “The Talented Tenth”. This was a group of black elites who went to college. Du Bois had this philosophy that if anybody from the Black race could achieve equal rights for Blacks, it would be this group of people. According to the “Illiteracy By Race” graph presented in Document B, the amount of Black illiteracy within the time period of 1890-1910 decreased every decade. This document could go hand in hand with the description above about “The Talented Tenth”. Black illiteracy went down because this group containing 10% of the population got everyone of the Black race’s attention and the Blacks started to go to school because of their role models, “The Talented Tenth”. W.E. B. Du Bois accepted the fact that if the Blacks wanted their rights and freedoms granted to them, they would have to ask. On top of that, Du Bois believes that if the Blacks go with the philosophy that