Black leaders have met with strong support from those who would benefit from these actions. This report will examine the influence of two "early era" Black activists: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Through an analysis of the ideological differenc

Moreover, without skills, their hopes of escaping their economic inferiority were indeed scant. Washington's plan for blacks to at least become skilled artisans and tradesmen must have seemed logical to him from the standpoint of improving the economic lot of the average Black man. At the same time, he must have realized that, by accepting inferiority as a de- facto condition for the entire race, he may have broken the black spirit forever. In considering this matter, the writer is reminded of more recent events in American history--the affirmative action flap that occurred after Clarence Thomas's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, for example. Mr. Thomas, clearly a beneficiary of affirmative action, announced that he was nonetheless opposed to it. His argument was that if he had not been eligible for benefits under affirmative action programs, he would have still achieved his current position in the inner circle of this society's white power elite. Similarly, Booker T. Washington enjoyed access to the power elite of his time, but one must wonder whether President Roosevelt, for example, in his interactions with Mr. Washington, was not merely using the situation for public relations value. "[Mr. Washington] was 'intimate' with Roosevelt from 1901 to 1908. On the day Roosevelt took office, he invited Washington to the White House to advise him on political appointments of Negroes in the south." After all, he did not become a popular president by being oblivious to such political maneuvering. Perhaps Mr. DuBois was the more prescient visionary. Perhaps he understood what Mr. Washington did not, that after the critical historical momentum toward social acceptance that had been established prior to the late nineteenth century, if political pressure were not maintained, the cause of true equality would be lost forever. Moreover, DuBois understood that equality would not be earned through appeasement. From our perspective of over 100 years, we must admit that he may have been right. For example, in the aftermath of the "Atlanta Massacre" of September 22, 1906 and a similar incident in Springfield, Illinois, "it was clear to almost all the players that the tide was running strongly in favor of protest and militancy." "For six days in August, 1908, a white mob, made up, the press said, of many of the town's 'best citizens,' surged through the streets of Springfield, Illinois, killing and wounding scores of Blacks and driving hundreds from the c

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Approximate Word count = 1657
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)