Origination of "The HBCU Concept" | DuBois versus Booker T. | Legal Warfare | A Historic Timeline, from 1837 - 2000

DuBois versus Booker T.
Washington gained notoriety and was soon a celebrity among blacks and whites as the proponent of black advancement through vocational training and racial conciliation.

Booker T. Washington, a freed slave from Virginia, attended the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. There he was exposed to one of the best examples of elementary and secondary black vocational education in the nation. Hampton, founded by the AMA and the Freedmen's Bureau, focused its efforts on preparing young blacks throughout the South to fill jobs in the skilled trades. Washington became an apprentice of Hampton's president and decided to lead his own school after graduating. In 1881, he took the helm at the fledgling Tuskegee Institute. Tuskegee quickly became famous for its practical curriculum and focus on preparing blacks for many agricultural and mechanical trades. Washington gained notoriety and was soon a celebrity among blacks and whites as the proponent of black advancement through vocational training and racial conciliation. He believed firmly that the best way for freed slaves and other blacks to attain equality in the United States was through the accumulation of power, wealth, and respect by means of hard work in practical trades. The inscription on the Tuskegee University monument to Booker T. Washington reads, "He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry."

DuBois felt quite strongly that Washington's universal vocational training only perpetuated the servitude of slavery. He believed equality and a sense of purpose would only come if talented blacks were allowed to study the arts and sciences.

W.E.B. DuBois took a very different view of how blacks ought to function in society. Raised in Massachusetts and first exposed to real segregation during his undergraduate work at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, DuBois believed that it was essential that blacks be allowed training not only in vocational fields, but also in the liberal arts. A fierce advocate for civil rights, DuBois feuded very openly with Washington over the proper strategy for educating black university students. DuBois felt quite strongly that Washington's universal vocational training only perpetuated the servitude of slavery. He believed equality and a sense of purpose would only come if talented blacks were allowed to study the arts and sciences. Then they could become leaders and teachers for the next generation.

It is impossible to say which of these views triumphed. Each, in its own way, lives on today in modern HBCUs. Many colleges and universities seem to be embracing both-students receive practical, technical training grounded in the liberal arts.

Throughout the period of this debate, attendance at HBCUs increased substantially, as did financial support from the government and individual philanthropists such as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. HBCUs also gained credibility and respect when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools began formally surveying and accrediting them in 1928.

source: CollegeView.com

Origination of "The HBCU Concept" | DuBois versus Booker T. | Legal Warfare | A Historic Timeline, from 1837 - 2000 |