elite african americans essays

elite african americans essays During the Reconstruction period, congress sent to the states three important new amendments the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, while the Fourteenth Amendment made black citizens, equal to their white counterparts. The fifteenth Amendment states that no citizens could be stopped from voting because of their race or color. There were high spirits and vision of progress among blacks in America. These feelings of joy and happiness lasted shortly when laws were passed that provided for the segregation of southern society into two parts. One for the whites and the other for the blacks. Among the chaos and confusion arisen two black elites in Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although both approached the way to deal with oppression and assimilation differently, both enjoyed success in being respected and admired leaders who brought their people one step closer to really becoming free. With the support of Northern missionary societies and a few Southern state governments, they expanded the network of black colleges and institutions into an important educational system Booker T. Washington, born into slavery had worked his own way out of poverty by acquiring an education. He as the founder and president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Once established, he urged other blacks to follow the same road to self-improvement. Washington urged blacks to attend school, learn skills, and establish a strong footing in agriculture and trade. Blacks should refine their speech, improve their dress, and adopt habits of personal hygiene and cleanliness. Only when blacks do all these things will they win the respect of the white citizens. In a famous speech in Georgia in 1895, Washington outlined a philosophy of race relations that became known as the Atlanta Compromise. Washington stated the agitation of questions of racial equality is the extreme folly (Norton 614). He envisioned a society...