Washington vs. Du Bois

I apologize if some of my knowledge is from stuff other then what is precisely in the text. This has been a main focus in every American history class since middle school so my outside knowledge is a little difficult to ignore for this. One of the first things I noticed when reading The Atlanta Exposition Address is the angle by which Washington approaches this task. On page 762 when Washington says “To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race, ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know…” it seems he is bribing the whites into aiding the blacks in work with the fact that they won’t have to deal with learning to understand a new culture with foreign labor because the blacks have already adjusted. In that section and the following lines he really pulls on the hearts of the whites. His description of the connection they have over the years is very intense. I think those few lines could be the foundation for most dramatic scenes in literature, television, movies, soap operas, episodes of Oprah, etc. Washington does share some ideas with Du Bois, an example of this is when Washington says “let these efforts be turned into stimulating, encouraging, and making him the most useful and intelligent citizen.”(762) Where they seem to differ from what I got was that Du Boise was more interested in making a few much more successful then many a little bit more successful. I am against this however I do like how Du Bois was more for political action and more unforgiving. They each seem to have their advantage to their side. Washington understands the concept of small steps; this society wasn’t made in a day and won’t be changed in a day. The advantage of Du Bois is that he is very active and shows no signs of giving up. He’s a mover and shaker. He seems to be the kind of guy who you briefly mention an idea to in light conversation and the next day he comes back with full written plans, all the paperwork and supplies, and a readiness to kill anyone/thing that could possibly inhibit his ability to achieve this goal. However, each seems to be a little bit too much with their side. Washington is a little too much of a push-over and Du Bois is trying to fix the problem with out any room for adjustment or easing into. I know that I’m adding in a bit more then what the reading implies because I am making Du Bois sound rather ruthless when in fact he was a bit merciful to Washington in the reading and I am basing a lot of this off the accomplishments of Du Bois such as his part in creating the NAACP and as well basing it off of his ideas of The Talented Tenth. However, I feel even with this mercy to Washington you can get a sense of his aggravation boiling over from underneath his skin. Much like in a cartoon when a character yields to a request against their will and replies with an overly-proper abdication through clinching teeth, you can hear the emotion seeping through when he says “In his failure to realize and impress this last point, Mr. Washington is especially to be criticized. His doctrine has tended to make the whites, North and South, shift the burden of the Negro problem to the Negro’s shoulders and stand aside as critical and rather pessimistic spectators.” I apologize I made that a bit too wordy but I feel that was the way I could most accurately describe the severity of the statement. So anyway all-in-all with the readings Washington was more for preparing the black community for a struggle and asking them to work hard while also pleaing for the whites to have a bit of tolerance and understanding. Du Bois seemed to be unexcepting of giving an inch because he felt that asking for help from a society which has no history of help or understanding was only going to result in stagnation in the movement and progress of black rights. Oh one last thing sorry about being a few hours late. I had a lot of work for other classes and in all the confusion I was thinking this was just due before class and not at 8 PM. I was made even more late by the fact that for some reason it would not allow me to log into my account and after reseting my username AND password through google i finally was able to fix all problems and post this. If you take points off for being late I understand I just hope you still accept it.