Washington

 “ while doing this , you can be sure in the future, as in the past, that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law abiding, and un resentful people that the world has seen. As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sick-bed of your mothers and fathers, and often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future, in our humble way, we shall stand by you with a defense of yours, interlacing out industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life with yours in a way that shall me the interests of both races one. In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. (443)

Washington was making an attempt to express that the slaves were just as much as equal as those who are white. That they are mothers and father, employees, people who will buy up plots of land and contribute to the overall culture of mankind. That if there was a willingness to create a whole community instead of many individual ones, that there would be several more things accomplished and with a higher success rate.

Washington also displays pure honesty, which I found to be very refreshing. He wasn’t simply pleading the case of his people as innocent and without fault. He says himself “Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in pulling the load upward, or they will pull against you the load downward. We shall constitute one-third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South, or one-third its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one-third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we shall prove a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing, and retarding every effort to advance the body political.” (444)

Washington admits that the change won’t come easily, that it will be a struggle each and every day and can’t be forced upon people, but slowly introduced. That the privileges of the law can be theirs, and are deserved, Although, exercising these privileges needs to be learned. 

Washington wraps up his speech and his last few words were “…will bring into our beloved South a new heaven and a new earth.”(445). which was referring earlier to what could be possible if everyone was able to pull themselves together in a joint unit. I find him realizing the possibilities and being very hopeful for the best outcome possible.

Du Bois

“How does it feel to be a problem?” (454) Du Bois admits to it being a strange experience. Du Bois goes argument is that the Negro is what it is and it shouldn’t be anything else than what it is. He say’s himself “The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife- this longing attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. Into his merging he wishes neither of the older slaves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face. (455)

It seems as if Du Bois is basically expressing that Negros have been forced to be so many other things than it actually is. He drives home the actual struggle that it has taken his people to come to the point at which they now reside. And the further actions they will have to take to continue on a forward motion and sometimes things ahead of them seemed dark and without any head way, but for others a process which would eventually provide a positive.

Du Bois even speaks of Washington and his recent proclamation, he says “ Mr. Washington’s counsels of submission overlooked certain elements of true manhood, and that his educational programme  was unnecessarily narrow (462)  

Which at this point it makes me really think about Washington’s speech? Was it really a plea for submission? Or was it a compromise? Did he basically roll over and play dead in hopes of gaining even an ounce of freedom?

Du Bois also mentions that due to Washington’s past he tip toes about with his ideas to presents them in ways that would be more pleasing to his audience. Du Bois is just expressing that every man should be made to be equals.

I feel that Washington makes very valid points and I feel Du Bois is right about him. He does appear to be presenting his case in ways that are more appealing to the ear of the audience. While on the other hand Du Bois is straight up with his facts and feelings. Washington appears in my opinion to be more conservative based on the fact that he is trying to please while create a change, and Du Boise is more militant in his actions.