This blog page is set up for Mr. Chazen's HMUSH students discuss and debate issues presented in class
Friday, September 6, 2013
#1 Booker T vs W.E.B. debate
Which early civil rights leader had the better strategy, Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. Du Bois? Explain your reasoning and point out weaknesses on the other side.
It would be easy to agree with W.E.B. Dubois in this day and age. We take our rights and liberties for granted, assuming that they will always be there for us. But during the time of Dubois and Washington, this was not so. And one would have to be very brave to join the side of Dubois. To take a stand against all the injustices that blacks faced at the time would have been very difficult. But you would have to be even braver to join the side of Washington, because you would have to give up your rights, for a time period, in order to gain a better economic position and then reclaim those lost right. From the perspective of a white leader of that time, who would you listen to? Someone who you believed to be below you, but was criticizing you for holding that very belief and in addition to all of its ramifications, and then challenging you to treat them the same way? You might respect this person for their bravery in confronting you in such a daring manner, but you would have no incentive to heed their words. In that way, the case that Dubois made would not make any large difference to the situation that African Americans faced. However, a white leader would be more inclined to listen if a colored person said that that they would lower themselves politically in order to work on raising their economic status, and when blacks and whites are equal economically, they would reclaim their lost political rights. The fact is, Washington's strategy did give blacks a greater voice- Washington was the first colored person to meet personally with the President of the US. Also, Barack Obama, the current president and first black president ever, has a stance on race that has been compared to that of Booker T. Washington. In the end, Booker T. Washington's strategy was better than W.E.B. Dubois.
It would be easy to agree with W.E.B. Dubois in this day and age. We take our rights and liberties for granted, assuming that they will always be there for us. But during the time of Dubois and Washington, this was not so. And one would have to be very brave to join the side of Dubois. To take a stand against all the injustices that blacks faced at the time would have been very difficult. But you would have to be even braver to join the side of Washington, because you would have to give up your rights, for a time period, in order to gain a better economic position and then reclaim those lost right.
ReplyDeleteFrom the perspective of a white leader of that time, who would you listen to? Someone who you believed to be below you, but was criticizing you for holding that very belief and in addition to all of its ramifications, and then challenging you to treat them the same way? You might respect this person for their bravery in confronting you in such a daring manner, but you would have no incentive to heed their words. In that way, the case that Dubois made would not make any large difference to the situation that African Americans faced.
However, a white leader would be more inclined to listen if a colored person said that that they would lower themselves politically in order to work on raising their economic status, and when blacks and whites are equal economically, they would reclaim their lost political rights.
The fact is, Washington's strategy did give blacks a greater voice- Washington was the first colored person to meet personally with the President of the US. Also, Barack Obama, the current president and first black president ever, has a stance on race that has been compared to that of Booker T. Washington. In the end, Booker T. Washington's strategy was better than W.E.B. Dubois.