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Divergent Paths to Black Equality After the Civil War the United States transitioned into a time where freed men and women were attempting to raise their social, political, and economical standing in a community in which they had been held down in for over a century. Two leaders of the Black community, Booker T Washington and W.E.B Dubois had contrasting ideas on how to raise the Black mans standing in the community but both strove to set Blacks equal to Whites in the United States. Although Booker T Washington and W.E.B Dubois had vastly different ideas on how to raise the standings of freedmen both plans included draw backs, similarities, and included ideas that would launch freed black men and women towards social and political equality. Washington tells the freedmen to cast down their buckets towards making friends with the White southerners and cast down their buckets to become educated in mechanics, in commerce and in domestic service (Washington) His plan required the freedmen to accept segregation and to focus on economic equality (PBS). To achieve economic equality he wanted every Black male to focus on an industrial education (Washington) meaning going back to working in the fields and doing house work. Washingtons theory was that if Black men could grow economically White men would accept them as their equals (Gibson). Dubois plan for social equality was more aggressive than Washingtons; his philosophy was that they would receive social equality through education and political equality (PBS). First we would vote; with the right to vote goes everything Dubois says in his autobiography, if black men were able to vote they could make a change in the laws and give themselves rights. Dubois believed in the talented tenth, meaning ten percent of the Black population would become leaders if they were able to receive higher education. Though the philosophies of the two men were different, both of them were intended to have the same effect.

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During reconstruction the common white man believed that All Negroes were ignorant, lazy, dishonest, and that Negroes were responsible for bad government (Gibson) To Dubois the greatest impediment to achieving equality was that the southerners didnt see Blacks as people (Gibson). To convince the white men that they were people Dubois planned to educate Black men as White men were. Washington was under the firm belief that the Black men were hurting themselves by trying to fight against the White men who had all of the power and also hurting themselves by trying to take up jobs that they didnt have any experience in. Both of the men needed the government to give Blacks an opportunity in schools, and to receive and education. Dubois and Washington also needed the government to control the amount of segregation throughout the country despite the Jim Crow laws previously passed (Byron).

The ideas of Washington and Dubois were drastically different but both had certain drawbacks to them. Washingtons plan put Blacks back into a position of inferiority and made them give up political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education of Negro youth. (Byron). It was a positive for the White southerners because they saw it as the blacks giving up on their rights (Byron). Washingtons plan was completely dependent on weather White men wanted to accept Blacks into the community. If this plan was used it could be possible that Blacks wouldnt have any rights or resulted in equal rights without all of the violence (Byron). Dubois plan was more aggressive and would allow Black children to receive higher education (PBS). However one of the shortcomings of Dubois plan was that there was a possibility of violence. During the civil rights movement Dubois plan was implemented and was successful in helping Blacks to receive their civil rights. Today the United States has a Black President; the US has come a long way from when the Black community was struggling to achieve equality. A large part of the success of the US is

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due to the plans of Booker T Washington and Dubois whose contrasting ideas on how to achieve equality for Blacks made a lasting impression for generations to come.

Works Cited "Booker T & W.E.B." PBS.org. PBS, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html>. Byron. "W.E.B. DuBois critiques Booker T. Washington." History Matters. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/40/>. Gibson, Robert A. "Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois: The Problem of Negro Leadership." Yale.edu. Yale University, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. <http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.02.x.html>.