The Progressive Empire
The United States as a developing nation witnessed a great change between 1895 and 1920; it was the birth of a new phase known as “The Progressive Era.” The early 20th century was an era of business expansion and progressive reform in the United States. The progressive movement was at state and local levels; however, it was able to form four constitutional amendments, each of which addressed progressive concern. The “progressives,” as they called themselves, worked to make American society a better and safer place in which to live. They tried to make big business more responsible through regulations, cleaned up corrupt city governments, in order to insure improvement for the working conditions in factories, and for better living conditions of those living in the poorest areas.
Many of this “progressives” were a large number of recent immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Several progressives were also concerned with the environment and conservation of resources, such as President Roosevelt. Although this generation of Americans also hoped to make the world a more democratic place, at home, Afro-Americans and other minorities fared poorly. In southern states, for example, although most blacks lived there, white state and local governments dominated them.
Although many progressives supported equality and equal rights, many blacks decided to move north where they found jobs, but were still divided and “gains in employment were set by continue racial discrimination” (pg 86). Later on, Jim Crow laws were made to segregate races from schools, public buildings and denied employment to them. Although African-American leaders wanted equality for their people, they disagreed on how to respond to the Jim Crow Laws. Southern educator Booker T. Washington believed that blacks should stay away from politics and concentrate on economic development. Washington had learned to that success and equality can be achieved with hard work. While on the other hand, socialist W. E. B. Du Bois strongly disagreed and believed that it was impossible to develop without the right to vote. As a socialist, he had learned to understand societies and their complexity. After reading both of their arguments I believe that the reason of their disagreement has to do with their different backgrounds. Although I believe that economic development is a very important factor for equality, I agree with Du Bois that people need to establish a voice to obtain full development and equality.
Booker T. Washington was a born slave, who obtains his freedom with the end of the civil war as many other slaves. His childhood was one of privation, poverty, slavery and back-breaking work. He was raised by his mother Jane, thus he did not know anything about his father. He was put to work as early as possible, and since it was illegal for a slave to learn to read and write, Washington received no education. Once free he worked packing salt in Malden, West Virginia at the age of nine years old. Despite the exhausting job, Washington used his free time to study. Washington finally attended to Hampton Institute, established and ran by General Samuel Chapman Armstrong.
The institute and Armstrong became a great influence in Washington life, thus Armstrong believed in work, study, hygiene, morality, self-discipline and self-reliance. Armstrong’s purpose was to train black teachers, but he believed every student should have a trade as well. Washington was a Janitor. Washington policy of accommodation on civil rights issues argued that blacks should concentrate on economic self improvement rather than changes in political laws, because he believed that: “The wisest among my race understanding that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly” (Washington 90). In other words, he believes that in order for a race to prosper it needs to learn to start from the bottom and not from the top, yet it should not permit criticism to surpass its opportunities. Washington believes in development for all can only occurred if people can recognize “struggle” rather than “artificial forcing.”
On the other hand, W. E. B. Du Bois who had born in Great Barrington, Mass. (with a mix heritage of French, Dutch, and African) had more experience with education than Booker T. Washington Du Bois went to Fisk University and later to Harvard where he got his masters and Ph. D. in 1895. He studied in Berlin to later teach in Wilberforce College. In 1899 he published “The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study.” Originally Du Bois favored the compromises in the famous speech of Washington; however, became inpatient with “gradualism” and with other educated blacks began to demand equality, because the way Washington favored the Anglos and blacks. In this work Du Bois proposes that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”
His concepts of life behind the curtain of race and the resulting “double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others,” have become decisive factors for thinking about race in America. In addition to these concepts, “A Critic of Booker T. Washington” offers an evaluation of the progress of the race, the obstacles to that progress, and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century. Du Bois also examines the years immediately following the Civil War and, in particular, the Freedmen’s Bureau’s role in Reconstruction. The Bureau’s failures were due not only to Southern opposition and “national neglect”, but, also to mismanagement and courts that were biased “in favor of black litigants.”
In conclusion, Du Bois claims that the most significant event in African American history has been the rise of the educator, Booker T. Washington, to the role of spokesman for the race. However, Du Bois argues that Washington’s approach to race relations is counterproductive to the long-term progress of the race. Washington’s acceptance of segregation and his emphasis on material progress represent an “old attitude of adjustment and submission.” While Du Bois emphasizes that this policy has damaged African Americans by contributing to the loss of the vote, the loss of civil status, and the loss of aid for institutions of higher education. Du Bois insists that “the right to vote,” “civic equality,” and “the education of youth according to ability” are essential for African American progress rather than just economical development. The different demographics of both authors affect the way both think: One being a slave who prospered; and the second a scholar of black social study. Nonetheless, I agree with Du Bois that it is more important to obtain recognition and the ability of vote in order to develop by preventing laws like the Jim Crow laws to take effect.
