Background
Nearly a century after the abolishment of slavery in the United States of America in 1865, Black Americans still faced oppression, segregation, race-inspired violence, and poverty. There had been significant attempts to improve the status of black Americans before 1950 with the biggest achievement being the overruling of the “separate but equal” doctrine by the Supreme Court in 1954. Although the court had declared the rule illegal, federal government still failed to implement the decision with black people having to face the risk of crossing racial barriers. The next decade and a half saw the formation of various civil rights movements compel the government to enforce the decision and all areas of public life. The civil rights activist used different approaches to try and convince the federal government to accord African-Americans their full citizenship rights.
Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington was the son of a white father and a black slave mother. He was the founder a Tuskegee Institute, a popular school for black Americans. Washington used the term “cast your buckets down” that meant blacks should understand their situation in America and find opportunities in them. Washington said that the attainment of civil rights and equality would be as a result of a severe and constant struggle. He believed that African-Americans excelled at manual labor and should use these skills to find a place in the commercial world and earn money. He emphasized that no race that had contributed to the economy of the world had ever been alienated, and the atrocities in the South States would come to an end with the contribution of the black people to the commercial markets. The reason for his standpoint is because he believed getting money was more important then than being allowed to spend it in some places.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
William was a Harvard graduate who founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909 with the purpose of attaining immediate human rights (Bois). William criticized Washington’s approach for preaching materialism overshadowing the higher aims of life and allowing white people from the south States to put the burden of black people on the blacks. William believed that Washington’s approach resulted in the speeding up of disenfranchisement of black Americans, legal creation distinct civil inferiority stats for African-Americans, and withdrawal of aid from organizations meant for higher training of black people. He also believed that Washington and his followers ignored three facts. First, slavery and racial prejudice were to blame for black Americans position. Second, industrial and typical school training was slow because they had to wait black teachers trained by higher institutions. Third, unless the striving of black people is encouraged by white people there is no hope for success for blacks. William stated that the north and south states to solve the issue of civil rights by allowing every black the basic human rights. The reason William was of this opinion is because he believed that black people could not make any economic progress without political and civil rights.
James Langston Hughes
Langston was a writer whose writings were influenced by jazz rhythms and focused on the lives of urban black Americans. In his poem “I, too sing America” it can be seen that the poet had accepted his inferior position in the society and did not expect immediate equality with white people as Dubois believed (Hughes). The writer believed in Washington’s approach of earning his rights through submission and hard work. The writer was proud of his race and did not see the need to be uplifted by elite African Americans. He places the blame on white people and says they will be ashamed when they see how strong and beautiful he has become.
Works cited
Bois, William Edward Burghardt Du. The Souls of Black Folk. 1903. Print.
Hughes, James Langston. I, Too, Sing America. 1926. Poem. 22 Feb. 2016.
