Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois present opposing representations of the diametrically opposed philosophies that came to define African-American culture in the United States during the upheaval of Reconstruction. Washington, in his autobiography Up From Slavery, advocates a sweeping reconciliation between former slaves and their former owners, believing that the most accessible path to securing rights for his people is paved with acquiescence and cooperation, rather than by forcible assertion. Du Bois, meanwhile, in The Souls of Black Folk, advocates an approach premised on the attainment of political power, an insistence on civil rights and, perhaps most importantly, the pursuit of higher education by young black men. Though both authors appear to strive for similar goals in their work, namely, the shedding of the last remnants of slavery from African-American culture, they are in strident opposition when it comes to the most productive means of achieving that goal. These...
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