4/13/08

In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois presents his views on the problems African Americans would face, the progress his race had made since the Civil War, and how well he thought the race could possibly do in the future. It had been mentioned in class prior to reading this text that W.E.B. DuBois had pretty different views than Booker T. Washington, but I did not realize that DuBois called Washington's ideas counterproductive and harmful to the progress of African Americans. Washingtong believed that everyone should be given an education and that hard work and laboring with the hands were not bad things. In fact, he thought each individual should appreciate the value of labor before he did anything else. Booker T. Washington also did his best to keep from getting involved in politics. He thought that African Americans going into positions of importance around the state and counties was detrimental because they were not ready or trained for such things. W.E.B. DuBois, on the otherhand, believed education of the individual should be based on that person's individual ability. He also thought that the idea of the vote and civic equality were necessary for the progress of African Americans. DuBois saw Washington's ideas as a way of submission and acceptance of segregation. I think that having these two opposite stances on the best way to bring about progress in their race would create a rift in that race. After reading Washington's text, I thought that his propositions and ideas made sense and would help bring about change for African Americans. But after reading DuBois' text and seeing another perspective, I'm starting to question whether or not Washington was completely right. But I also don't know if DuBois' more radical ideas for change are correct either.

4/8/08

I wanted to comment on Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery again. Throughout the whole book, Washington urges the African American community to see the immense value of labor and hard work. I found it obvious that one of his main goals in establishing the school at Tuskegee was to reverse the common idea that now that they were free, former slaves did not and should not have to work with their hands. He also wanted to instill the ideas of discipline, utility, respect, and selflessness for relationships between people. In reading this text, I thought that Booker T. Washington was being a little hypocritical when talking about the students going to classes and then having to labor in order to pay off their schooling. He criticized them for wanting to cut the work day short or somehow skipping out on doing the necessary work with their hands. However, when he was a child working in the salt mine, he turned the clock in the facility forward in order to get to school earlier and not miss class. This can be looked at two ways. First, he is consistent with his teachings that getting an education is the most important thing an African American could do to advance his position in society and the world. Washington as a young man was determined to get his education and was going to get his at pretty much any cost. On the other hand, Washington was causing the workers of the mine to work an hour or so less than they were supposed to during a normal work day. This goes against his ideas that hard labor is not a bad thing and that a person should not try to escape from doing his job. He would also condemn any student at Tuskegee Institute that would try to spend more time on his studies than was allotted during the day especially that student was using some of his designated work time to do so.