U.S. History Collection
You Decide: Washington or Du Bois?

Education

Issue #1: Vocational Education or Higher Education?

One issue that was important to the success of the African American community, but on which Washington and Du Bois disagreed, was education.

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington was one of the leading promoters of what was called “industrial education.” Industrial education is based upon the philosophy that education should center around manual labor, economic development, self-help, and vocational school training. Washington believed that this was the best kind of education for most African Americans. In addition to basic skills like reading and writing, it was important to learn the skills that would lead to a vocational job, such as a plumber, mechanic, or engineer.

“Many have had the thought that industrial training was meant to make the Negro work, much as he worked during the days of slavery. This is far from my idea of it, but how to make the forces of nature—air, water, horsepower, steam, and electric power—work for him. . . .”

W. E. B. Du Bois

Like Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois supported education; however, he favored a liberal and classical education, similar to his own. Du Bois also insisted that because African Americans were denied education for so long, it would take a massive undertaking to catch up. As a result, Du Bois argued that attention and efforts should focus on “the Talented Tenth,” a group that equated to about 10 percent of the Black community, who would in turn help to save their race.

“The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first be to deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.”

Take Notes

Based upon their positions on educational policy, who do you believe had a better vision for improving the conditions of African Americans in the early 1900s, Booker T. Washington or W. E. B. Du Bois, and why?

Tuskegee History Class

A black and white photo shows a school room for Black students. Adolescent Black boys and girls are wearing suits or dresses and are seated in rows of wooden benches. Girls are on the left and boys on the right. Their heads are turned to look at the chalkboard on the left wall of the room. Cursive writing and a drawing of a person fills the board. The Black female teacher stands next to the chalkboard near the front of the room. Portraits and small American flags decorate the wall above the chalkboard and the back wall. Two portraits are of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

GBH Logo