Throughout the struggle for equal rights, there have been courageous Black leaders at the forefront of each discrete movement. From early activists such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. DuBois, to 1960s civil rights leaders and radicals such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers, the progress that has been made toward full equality has resulted from the visionary leadership of these brave individuals.

This does not imply, however, that there has ever been widespread agreement within the Black community on strategy or that the actions of prominent 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 d

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.

DuBois "favored immediate social and political integration and the higher education of a Talented Tenth of the black population. His main interest was in the education of 'the group leader, the man who sets the ideas of the community where he lives. . .'" To this end, he organized the "Niagara movement," a meeting of 29 Black business and professional men, which led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

DuBois also describes his opposition to Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise" as follows: "Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission..." According to DuBois, Washington broke the mold set by his predecessors: "Here, led by Remond, Nell, Wells- Brown, and Douglass, a new period of self-assertion and self- development dawned.... But Booker T. Washington arose as essentially the leader not of one race but of two--a compromiser between the South, the North, and the Negro."

In order to understand the differences in the philosophies of Washington and Dubois, it is useful to know something about their backgrounds. Booker T. Washington, born a slave in 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia, could be described as a pragmatist. He was only able to attend school three months out of the year, with the remaining nine months spent working in coal mines. He developed the idea of Blacks becoming skilled tradesmen as a useful stepping-stone toward respect by the white majority and eventual full equality.

Washington worked his way through Hampton Institute and helped found the Tuskeegee Institute, a trade school for blacks. His essential strategy for the advancement of American Blacks was for them to achieve enhanced status as skilled tradesmen for the present, then using this status as a platform from which to reach for full equality later. Significantly, he argued for submission to the white majority so as not to offend the power elite. Though he preached appeasement and a "hands off" attitude toward politics,

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Approximate Word count = 1712
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)