two great leaders of the black community in the late 19th and 20th centuries were WEB Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. However, they strongly disagreed on strategies for black social and economic advancement. Their opposing philosophies can be found in much of today's discussions about how to end class and racial injustice, what the role of black leadership is, and what the "haves" owe to the "have-nots" in the black community.Booker T . Washington, educator, reformer, and the most influential black leader of his time (1856-1915) preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity, and accommodation. He urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and focus on upliftment through hard work and material prosperity. Du Bois, a towering black intellectual, scholar and political thinker (1868-1963) said no: Washington's strategy would only serve to perpetuate white oppression. Du Bois supported political action and a civil rights agenda (he helped found the NAACP). Furthermore, he argued that social change could be achieved by developing the small group of college-educated blacks he called "the tenth talent":"image by WEB Du Bois"The Negro race, like all races, will be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, therefore, among the Negroes, must deal first with the "Tenth Talent." It is the problem of developing the best of this race so that they can distance the Mass from the contamination and death of the worst "At the time, the Washington/Du Bois dispute polarized African American leaders into two wings: Washington's "conservative" supporters and his "radical" critics. Du Bois's philosophy of civil rights agitation and protest flowed directly into the civil rights movement that began to develop in the 1950s and exploded in the 1960s. Booker T. is associated today, perhaps unfairly , to the self-help/colorblind/Republican/Clarence Thomas/Thomas Sowell wing of the black community and its leaders The Nation of Islam and Maulana Karenga's Afrocentrism also derive from this strand of Booker T.'s philosophy. However. , the latter advocated retreat from the mainstream in the name of economics Du Bois This interesting 1965 article by writer Ralph McGill in The Atlantic combines an interview with Du Bois shortly before his death with his analysis of his life. of McGill. In the interview, Du Bois talks about Booker T., traces her controversial breakup with him, and explains how their backgrounds explained their opposing views on strategies for black social progress. The Souls of Black Folk by WEB Du Bois Here is the complete text of this classic in civil rights literature. It is a prophetic work that anticipates and inspires much of the black consciousness and activism of the 1960s. In it Du Bois describes the extent of American racism and calls for it to end. He draws on his own life for illustration: from his first teaching experience in the hills of Tennessee to the death of his infant son and his historic break with Booker T. Washington's "accommodating" stance..Black History, American History This archival The online section of The Atlantic magazine offers several essays by Du Bois (as well as Booker T. Washington). In particular, in "The Training of Black Men" he continues his debate with Washington.WEBDu