Write a two sentence claim statement for the following

Booker T. Washington, born into slavery and later freed, championed vocational education as the means for African Americans to achieve economic independence. W.E.B. Du Bois, a Harvard-educated intellectual born after the Civil War, advocated for civil rights and higher education to empower the African American community.

1 answer

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois represent two contrasting approaches to African American advancement in the post-Civil War era, with Washington emphasizing vocational training as a pathway to economic independence, while Du Bois advocated for the pursuit of civil rights and higher education to achieve social and political empowerment. Together, their legacies underscore the critical dialogue around strategies for overcoming systemic racial barriers in America.