Booker T Washington was both a reformer and a black leader who was the most influential among the leaders that existed at his time (1856-1915). He made many contributions including the development and the establishment of the institute called Tuskegee. However, the philosophies espoused by Washington were not in line with the wishes of a majority of the black people. Racial solidarity and self-help were the two main philosophies of this leader (Davidson, 2001). In his time, he did not work to ensure discrimination was eradicated. Instead, he advised the black Americans to accept it (discrimination). While addressing the audience of the National Negro Business League, there was no handclap or single move indicating approval, meaning that he had betrayed the blacks.
During the 1900s, W.E.B.Du Bois contended that the African Americans should strive to get the traditional education just like the Whites. On the other hand, Washington was favoring vocational education for the black Americans. Du Bois and Washington had good ideologies on education, but the ideology of Washington was the best. Vocational educational had many advantages. First, vocational education would not only prepare learners for higher learning but also for better practical roles in their lives (Moore, 2003). Second, proper discipline would be enforced due to this education. Lastly, the education would create productive workers for those who owned businesses.
The laws that Jim Crow made in the 1950s in America played a significant role in the formation of the Civil Right Movement. The laws were not favorable at all to the black Americans, who lived in America during that period. Jim Crow argued that there was no room for the black Americans to associate or play with any white person. This law ensured that the blacks and the whites were separated. The other Jim Crow laws include: blacks were not supposed to marry whites, and there was no freedom of movement and speech for the blacks (Freeman, 2010).All those people that went against those laws were punished. Following these laws, individuals like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther started the Civil Rights Movement.
References
Davidson, D. V. (2001). Ethcaste: PanAfrican communalism and the Black middle class.
Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Freeman Joe. (2010). Radical Republican: Tea Party. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation.
Moore, J. M. (2003). Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. DuBois, and the struggle for racial uplift.
Wilmington, Del: Scholarly Resources.
