Booker T. Washington

Booker T Washington and W.E.B. Dubois 2022

By Bianca Woodard

Open Ended

Read lines 1-5. What is Washington encouraging African Americans to do when he tells them to “cast down their bucket” in making friends?

Open Ended

Read lines 7-11. What sort of work is Washington encouraging African Americans to do? And why?

Open Ended

Read lines 12-26. What is Washington encouraging white Southerners to do? And why?

Open Ended

Raymond Smock, a historian who wrote a book about Washington’s career in 2009, has argued that Washington was willing to appease white Southerners’ demands for racial inequality in exchange for their support for his plans. What passages from this speech could be used to support Smock’s conclusion?

Open Ended

Given the context of the time, why might Washington have chosen to look the other way on segregation and to appease white Southerners?

Open Ended

Historian Louis Harlan, who has been highly critical of Washington’s approach to civil rights, acknowledges that Washington privately financed lawsuits that challenged Jim Crow laws.

1. Why might Washington have fought inequality privately instead of openly calling for an end to legal discrimination?

2. Does the fact that he chose to fight Jim Crow laws privately change your understanding of Washington’s philosophy?

Open Ended

Read lines 1-9. Based on this passage, what is Du Bois’s main critique of Washington’s approach to civil rights and education?

Open Ended

Read lines 9-12. What is Du Bois saying about Washington’s emphasis on pursuing economic advancement for African Americans before pushing for political or social equality?

Open Ended

How might have Du Bois’s background and experiences influenced his perspective on Washington’s philosophy?

Open Ended

Du Bois advocated a different approach to education for African Americans than did Washington. Where does this document provide evidence of these differences?

Open Ended

Du Bois wrote a letter to Washington after the Atlanta speech in 1895, saying “Let me congratulate you heartily upon your phenomenal success at Atlanta—it was a word fitly spoken.”

1. How do Du Bois’s sentiments in the letter differ from what he wrote in The Souls of Black Folk eight years later?

2. What might explain the differences between what he wrote in this letter and what he wrote in The Souls of Black Folk?