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In contrast to Washington,
Du Bois held the belief that blacks can only assure that
they can make progress if they have the opportunities for a
broad education, civil and social rights, and the right to
vote. While Washington’s stance was more practical for
making some immediate progress during the reformation era,
Du Bois’s argument was much more realistic for making true
and meaningful progress for African Americans.
Du Bois
asserted that in order to make any type of gains in society,
black people had to actively try to gain the right to vote.
The right to vote, he argued, is extremely powerful when
trying to make collective economic and social gains. Even
if there is passion and organization, in order to achieve
anything on a level that is to be recognized by the general
(and at the time, dissenting) public, one must have the
right of suffrage and exercise this right.
Du Bois spoke about this
in The Souls of Black Folk in a response to
Washington’s Atlanta Exposition, writing “…it is utterly
impossible, under modern competitive methods, for workingmen
and property owners to defend their rights and exist without
suffrage.” (Tozer, p. 118) Gaining economic and material
wealth would mean nothing for the reformation era blacks if
they did not wield and use any political power.
The other main tenants of
Du Bois’s argument were that blacks also needed civil
equality and a broad base of education. Civil equality is
necessary to allow free movement in social class, as
promised by the American dream.
At the time in the South,
there were laws that created “a distinct status of civil
inferiority for the Negro.” (Tozer, p. 121 from Du Bois’s
The Souls of Black Folk). These laws justified
anti-black sentiments by giving them legal backing. This
status also effectively prevented blacks from accessing
pretty much any quality education, let alone higher
education.
Washington argued that
blacks should only receive technical education to prepare
them for the roles that society had prescribed for them (in
agriculture and domestic service and commerce). Du Bois, in
my opinion, weakened this argument with simple logic. He
says, “Neither the Negro common-schools, nor Tuskegee itself
could remain open a day were it not for teachers trained in
Negro colleges, or trained by their graduates.” (Tozer,
p.121)
The true value of W.E.B.
Du Bois’s views is that they still prove to be useful today.
He advocated for the education of students based on ability
level. This idea is seen in the push towards diverse
education based on student needs and the implementing of
tracking in schools.
There are drawbacks to
this theory however because students of lower socio-economic
class (which is often tied to race) are tracked into
vocational programs in disproportionate amounts. Do all of
these students lack the ability to survive in higher level
and intellectually challenging courses? What is the process
that the school is uses to determine which students are
tracked in which programs?
Another way in which Du
Bois’s views are still relevant can be seen when examining
immigrant families. Civil equality and the right to vote
play a crucial role in having a voice in the education of
your youth. There has been widespread xenophobic antipathy
toward Hispanic immigrants which has caused numerous
problems when trying to address the issue of educating the
children of these migrant groups. Considering that they
have quickly become the largest minority group in the U.S.,
it would benefit them to be able to weigh in on the
education of their children by voting.
Past or present, I believe
that Du Bois had a much more realistic and solid argument
about how marginalized groups should seek advancement.
Whereas Washington’s argument merely sought to put a
band-aid on the symptoms that slavery and discrimination
that caused, Du Bois sought to cure the ills by attacking
the problems directly.
Reference(s)
Tozer, S., & Senese, G. (2009). Educational Aims in
Historical Perspective. In School and Society: Historical
and Contemporary Perspectives (6th ed., p. 116-121).
Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Megan Banks
is a senior at the University of Toledo Judith Herb College
of Education majoring in music education. Ms. Banks is Drum
Major for the 2014-2015 University of Toledo Marching Band,
and in that position is making history as the first Black
female to hold that position in Rocket history.
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