Did Booker T. Washington's philosophy and actions betray the interest of African Americans?
Washington’s philosophical statement was not only a betrayal to the African Americans, but was a grand ridicule to the blacks who had been pushed to the periphery of social underpinnings. Indeed, Washington’s statement did not go so well with the African American who deemed it as a ridicule of the highest degree. One would ask a simple yet a very critical question; how could two races be urged to work together, while be instructed to hold to their racial lineages? This is the blackmail that Washington’s philosophy held on African Americans. This statement generated discontent among the blacks, who deemed it as an open gate to more victimization, or rather an admission to further discrimination against the blacks (Jewett, John, and Jon 21). This statement was indeed ill-intended as it underpinned the dignity of blacks, who would only be encouraged to work with the Americans on low-scale jobs, yet their social lives would remain distinct. Based on these justifications, it is apparent that Washington’s statement amounted to betrayal to the African American race.
W. E. B. Du Bois championed that African Americans during the early 1900s should fight for a traditional education, like their white counterparts. On the other hand, Booker T. Washington was in favor of African Americans having a vocational education. For the time period of the early 1900s who would you side with in this debate and why?
I would champion for the W.E.B Du Bois idea to have African Americans be enrolled for traditional education. During the 1900s, the while of America had plunged into racial complex, where the whites had elevated themselves to a higher social status, while the Africans occupied lower social periphery (Rabaka 37). Therefore, the only way that could forestall further conflicts attributed to racial inequality would be to adopt a common education system as postulated by Du Bois. Having a uniform education for the blacks and whites would be the best platform to recede animosity and racial tension, and indeed, most Africans would remain content with the proposal. On the other hand, Washington’s proposal for a vocation education would still escalate hatred and fury between the two races. This would mean that Africans are a preserve race for special education. Thus, irrespective of the social or economic relevance to these races, traditional education would be viable based on its contextual manifestation for equality in the society.
Works cited
Jewett, Clayton E, John O. Allen, and Jon L. Wakelyn. Slavery in the South. Westport, Conn: Greenwood press, 2004. Print.
Rabaka, Reiland. Africana Critical Theory: Reconstructing the Black Radical Tradition, from W.e.b. Du Bois and C.l.r. James to Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2009. Print.
