Explore the influence on African American literature by both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois

Answer

The Influence of the Works of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois on African American literature

            Despite emancipation, racial equality has been one amongst the most elusive concepts for African Americans to date. Nonetheless, the early 20^th Century saw a rivalry between two different approaches by two different African American leaders who sought for one similar cause. Booker T. Washington – whose admirers referred to as the modern Moses – championed the idea of slow equality, that the Black Community needed time to slowly gain their respect and equality in the society. On the other hand, W. E. B. DuBois was a leader of the radical protest movement, claiming that equality needed to be fought for by the Black community – instituting that it was their constitutional right and not something to ‘slowly gain.’ Even to date, many share in their sentiments, with segregation even among the Black Community. This is evident in the influence the two leaders have had on African American literature that continue to stir up the need for equality. This paper seeks to critically analyze the influence that each of the leaders have had on African American literature while exploring their contributions towards American social equality.

            Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington lived through the civil war and when all slaves were declared free. However, there was a huge problem with the freedom they had received; they did not know what to do with it, what opportunities to venture and what dreams to have. During this time, Booker managed to acquire high level education at Wayland Seminary where he was referred to teach in an African American school in Tuskegee. With this, Booker’s worldview concerning how the Black community could gain social equality was built. He believed that since most African Americans had no formal education, they needed time to actually acquire the same knowledge and the same sense of equality as their white counterparts. Even with the dawn of Ku Klux Klan and the many challenges for the Black people in post-reconstruction period, Washington still managed to convince his followers to not resolve to violence. In perhaps one of his most important speeches – famously known as the Atlanta Compromise – Washington told a majority of his white audience that the best move for the Black community was to seek self-improvement through an attempt to ‘dignify and glorify’ common labor (Washington, 1895).

1. E. B. DuBois, on the other hand, had a different kind of life – having have been born a free man and in the North. Ideologically, he was a scholar and an activist, whose cultural and political thoughts influenced the Civil Rights Movement. His life and work, having been considered ahead of his time, had a huge influence into how the lives of Black citizens were portrayed and seen in the American society. His sociological studies and writings became an important part of the black community that his ground breaking novel –The Souls of Black Folk (Du Bois, 2008) – became a required reading in African American Studies. In 1903, DuBois started teaching at the Tuskegee University, which was led by Booker T. Washington. However, due to their differences in ideologies that caused friction between them, DuBois joined Washington’s rivals in the Niagara Movement whose main purpose was to seek imminent justice and equality for the Black community. Dubois agreed with Washington that Blacks needed education in order to improve themselves, but they utterly disagreed on segregation and slow acquisition of equality. This brought about great rivalry, rivaled only by the might of each leader.

            With both of the biggest African American rivals advocating for education, many Blacks started writing literature about themselves – inspired by these two leaders. From around 1910s, many literatures in the form of self-expression and revelation became a norm in the now edified and less poor Black community. The first sign of this great uprising and renaissance was the self-revelations concerning the controversies relating to the slave narrations for which Frederick Douglass’s Life and Times (Warren, 2015) was the most striking. During this period in time, Washington’s Up from Slavery (2017) was published. Since this writing, many biographies followed along as many African American literature became less adventurous and more self-conscious. For instance, in 1913, Facts of Reconstruction was published by John Lynch (1913) – that detailed the political situation for the black people following the end of the Civil War. It is no doubt that these two major leaders were a great symbol of Black pride, inspiring Black people to tell their own stories. One of the most striking fictional works in this similar category is The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Johnson, 2017), which explicate the story of a young biracial man who gives up his true colored identity in order to secure his safety and advancement.

While many individuals have had the initiative of mitigating Black poverty, racial discrimination, illiteracy, and other bleak conditions that plagued the Black community, only a few had the courage and the idea to put them in writing. As many writers became more and more inspired to express themselves and to document what African Americans were going through in the free world, the debate between these two leaders became more intense and so were their effects. For instance, Johnson and Elwood (2004) substantiates the effects of these two primary debates on African American’s pursuance of education even in the age of information. Both men’s philosophies are being argued and applied in the technological area today. This insinuates that the two leaders’ philosophies did not only influence Black literature and narrations, but also affected how the Black community grew in knowledge and in social status. Even more so, there are still a number of individuals who support either side. As America goes through a period of racial unrest today, it is eminent to understand their viewpoint and accrue them the same social equality and justice that both Booker and Dubois valiantly fought for.

            In conclusion, it is evident that the Black community has been subjected to racial discrimination along with various other systemic oppressions that has continuously disadvantaged them since the end of the Civil war. While all of the Black community sought for equality and justice, their most elite and profound leaders had different approaches towards it. Booker T. Washington believed in slow but sure uprising of the African American community who would gain their acceptance and equality among the racially discriminating America. On the other hand, W. E. B. Dubois believed that equality and justice was as much their constitutional right as was any other American citizen. While their dreams were similar, their means of achieving this was different – all of which had supporters within and without the Black community. This is evident in their influence of literature that followed. Despite their different ideologies, they both advocated for education in the Black community and social equality within the American society.