Booker Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois

The equality concerns Americans face in the workplace today can be traced back to the end of slavery and the way in which legislators in the South handled the integration of the black population into society as employees rather than slaves. It is therefore interesting to examine documents from the era after the civil war in order to gain insight into the thinking of the general population and of leaders at the time. Hence, when considering W.E.B. Du Bois' "Talented Truth" and Washington T. Booker's speech known as the "Atlanta Compromise," it becomes clear that these intellectuals had different approaches and ideals when it came to the improvement of the world for African-Americans at the time, with Du Bois' idealist viewpoint calling for appropriate leadership education while the more realistic Booker focused on how the black and white population could live under a compromise...
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