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Jim Crow Laws, Aimed At Essay

E.B. DuBois arose as a prominent voice calling for more direct civil confrontation. It is impossible to judge who was right given the context in which the two sides were working, but an analysis of how history played out reveals both the wisdom and the shortcomings of Washington's approach to equality. Given that it took half a century following Washington's death for the passage of the Civil Rights Act, especially when it is considered that the type of improvements Washington advocated and brought into existence were immediate in their impact, it is tempting to see his view as the entirely correct one. By receiving a better education, and through this better employment and business opportunities,...

This allowed them to build a power base of middle-class support that was eventually successful in achieving political equality.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, however, was passed as the result of the type of protest and confrontation advocated by DuBois and other of Washington' opponents. It is quite possible that equality would have been achieved sooner with a more consistently vocal demand for it. Still, in the context of the nineteenth century, Washington's approach had more immediate and measurable benefits.

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Booker T. Washington's philosophy of slow improvement through education and economic opportunities met with a great deal of resistance in the antebellum period, especially around the turn of the century when W.E.B. DuBois arose as a prominent voice calling for more direct civil confrontation. It is impossible to judge who was right given the context in which the two sides were working, but an analysis of how history played out reveals both the wisdom and the shortcomings of Washington's approach to equality.

Given that it took half a century following Washington's death for the passage of the Civil Rights Act, especially when it is considered that the type of improvements Washington advocated and brought into existence were immediate in their impact, it is tempting to see his view as the entirely correct one. By receiving a better education, and through this better employment and business opportunities, the African-American community -- or those individuals who participated -- were able to begin carving out a better life for themselves, rather than waiting for equality to do so. This allowed them to build a power base of middle-class support that was eventually successful in achieving political equality.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, however, was passed as the result of the type of protest and confrontation advocated by DuBois and other of Washington' opponents. It is quite possible that equality would have been achieved sooner with a more consistently vocal demand for it. Still, in the context of the nineteenth century, Washington's approach had more immediate and measurable benefits.
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