Analysis of W E B Du Bois Essay Against the Atlanta Compromise

DUBOIS

"OF MR. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND OTHERS"

In 1895 Booker T. Washington gave his Atlanta Compromise speech that traded political and voting rights for economic rights. In 1901, W. E. B. Du Bois, wrote "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others," arguing against that compromise and for racial equality. Du Bois' argument is successful because of its structure, tone, support and proof of success.

Du Bois' "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others" is a successful argument. Talking about a speech Mr. Washington gave, Du Bois criticized Washington for compromising too much. Born a slave in the south and allowed to attend school when education was not a civil right for blacks, Washington was educated at Hampton Institute (A & E Television Networks, LLC). He gave his Atlanta Compromise speech in 1895 to a mainly white audience during the Post-Reconstruction hostilities between whites and blacks (A & E Television Networks, LLC). Washington said that politics was for mainstream society and African-Americans should be separate and not involve themselves in white society but act as separate fingers on a hand. Washington urged them to accept an unequal place in society. Washington saw it as a bargain he had to strike: he was willing to trade political and voting rights for economic rights, while secretly funding civil rights litigation. Unfortunately, his speech was used by white segregationists to bolster their position (A & E Television Networks, LLC).

Du Bois' experiences were different and that may be at least one reason for his different view of black-white relations. Du Bois was not born a slave. He grew up in the North in a more diverse society, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Fisk University and his Masters and Doctorate from Harvard University (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Instead of reacting backward to slavery and the violence after the Reconstruction, he though forward to equal rights for blacks. As a member of the Niagara Movement that was dedicated to equality, Du Bois wrote his 1901 criticism of Washington's compromise.

Du Bois' argument is successful because of its structure, tone, support and proof of success. The structure of his argument is very methodical and effective. He lists the things that Washington gave away in his compromise: the right to vote; civic equality; and the education of youth according to ability. Then he showed the costs of that compromise: the disfranchisement of the Negro; the legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro; and the steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of the Negro (Du Bois). He spends most of his essay talking about the reasons for not giving away the things that Washington gave away and explaining how terrible the costs were. The tone of Du Bois' essay is also effective. He speaks as a well-educated man who demands respect and completely rejects the ideas that blacks are inferior and should have anything less than complete equality. To support his argument, Du Bois uses ethos, pathos and logos. He uses ethos, appealing to the ethics of his audience by speaking about conscience, the degradation of treating blacks as inferiors and that degrading treatment as a "relic of barbarism" (Du Bois). He uses pathos in his emotional appeal about the natural dignity, struggle, manhood and the dependence of their future on striving for and eventually attaining equality. He uses logos in his logical appeal, using facts, examples, precedents, authorities and reasoning to methodically treat Washington's compromising approach and other African-Americans' different responses to it. Finally, there are at least two proofs of the success of Du Bois' argument. First, he became an internationally famous and dignified force for racial equality, accepted as a leading authority on the reasons for racial equality and the means of achieving it (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Secondly, the advancement of racial equality to where it is today in America, as a set of legally enforced rights despite forces trying to diminish or destroy it, proves Du Bois' arguments about the natural equality, abilities and dignity of blacks. In sum, Du Bois' argument against Washington's Atlanta compromise is a successful explanation of how that compromise was reached, was wrong, and should be abandoned by self-respecting blacks.