How to respond to segregation?    The spread of racial segregation in the South in the decades after Reconstruction left black leaders with difficult questions.  Should they protest and challenge the system of Jim Crow laws?  Or would it be better to concentrate instead on just trying improving the day-to-day life of blacks?    The photo shows a black family in Georgia in 1907.  Many families like this were very poor.  They worked as farm laborers in the fields, but rarely were able to save enough to buy land of their own.  Especially with the spread of segregation, there were not many ways to get ahead in life.

Two black leaders, two different views    The men shown here, W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, were among the most important black leaders in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  They had very different views, however, of the best way to deal with the issue of segregation.

W.E.B. Du Bois Writer and scholar - from Massachusetts (1868 - 1963)

Booker T. Washington Educator - from Virginia (1856 - 1915)

Quick summary: Booker T. Washington    We can accept segregation - it won't last forever.  We should focus now on building new schools that will teach our young people useful job skills.  That will help us lift ourselves up the ladder of success.

Booker T. Washington believed that trying to fight against Jim Crow laws directly would never succeed.  He hoped that segregation would fade away as blacks improved their lives and moved into better jobs.     Washington said the best way to help the masses of blacks living in the South would be to create schools that would focus on vocational education.  Vocational education means training for skilled jobs in trades such as carpentry, iron work, brick laying, roofing, and printing.  Skilled jobs pay much better than unskilled jobs, and create more opportunities to start one's own business.

Getting started at Tuskegee Institute     In 1881 Booker T. Washington was hired to start a school for African Americans in Tuskegee, Alabama.  There he began putting his ideas about education into action.  The first photo shows a carpentry (wood working) class for young men at the Tuskegee Institute.  The second shows a class for young women.

It was an idea that spread widely    Washington's ideas inspired other black leaders in communities all across the South to start vocational schools.  This photo shows a class for young men at the Manassas Industrial School in Manassas, Virginia.  It opened in 1894, led by the efforts of a local woman named Jennie Dean who had herself once been a slave.  Whites helped support many of these new schools by donating money for new buildings and equipment. Photo courtesy the Manassas Museum System, Manassas, Virginia.

  

Quick summary: W.E.B. Du Bois    Don't accept segregation!  It puts us at a great disadvantage.  In education, our main goal should be to increase the number of black college graduates.

W.E.B. Du Bois criticized Booker T. Washington for accepting segregation of the races.  Segregation, he said, put blacks at a severe disadvantage in life.  Du Bois said African Americans should demand full political, civil, and social rights immediately.     Du Bois believed that schools for vocational education were good, but he argued that Washington put way too much emphasis on that approach.  Du Bois said that the biggest goal should be to expand the number of blacks with college degrees.

Colleges for African Americans    The photo shows the library of Fisk University in Tennessee around 1900.  Like a small number of other colleges for African Americans, it was started just after the Civil War ended.  Du Bois himself graduated from Fisk University in 1888.

Creating a new generation of leaders    W.E.B. Du Bois wanted to increase the number of college educated blacks because he knew they would go on to become the teachers, preachers, business managers, and leaders in their communities.    This photo from 1899 shows some of the women students at Fisk University who wanted to become teachers.  They practiced their teaching skills by working with young children from the neighborhoods near the university.

The NAACP    Du Bois and Wells-Barnett were part of a group of whites and blacks who met in New York City in 1909 to create The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  The organization's purpose was to improve life for African Americans, and to fight against segregation laws.    The picture shows a meeting of the NAACP in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1929.

Pushing for an end to segregation    By the 1940s the NAACP had become a strong voice in America as it pushed for legal and political action to challenge segregation.  The drawing and photo below are from that time.  During the 1950s and 1960s, Jim Crow laws and racial segregation were finally made illegal in the U.S. through new federal laws and court decisions.

Looking deeper at this topic    You can learn more about Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Ida Wells-Barnett at your school library.  All lived full and interesting lives.  Ask the librarian for help finding a suitable book for your grade level.    The school Booker T. Washington started at Tuskegee is now a well-known university that still serves a mostly black student body.  You can learn more about it at: Tuskegee University web site   You can learn more about Jennie Dean, the heroic black woman who started the Manassas Industrial School in Virginia, at this web site: All about Jennie Dean

All images except those of the Manassas Industrial School are from the Library of Congress. 
Manassas Industrial School photos courtesy the Manassas Museum System, Manassas, Virginia. 
Some photos been edited or resized for this page.



 

Copyright Notice    Copyright 2009, 2020 by David Burns.  All rights reserved.