NAACP, Du Bois & Booker T

members

• Du Bois

• Ida B Wells

• Mary White Ovington

• Florence Kelloy

• William Walling

NUL

1910

• focused on urban welfare and employment for Northern AA

• worked alongside NAACP but less politically confrontational

• aim to support black migration to northern cities, improving employment and housing

methods of NAACP

• legal action

• Lobbying

• publications such as ‘The Crisis’

• public protest

achievements of NAACP

• 1915 Guinn v US struck down grandfather clauses

• 1917 Bucharan v Warley banned residential segregation laws

• pushed anti-lynching campaigns into national debate

• established legal activism as the core of the Civil Rights struggle, laying groundwork for the later victories (e.g. Brown v Board 1954)

aims of NAACP

• secure legal and political equality under 14th and 15th amendments

• end lynching, segregation and disenfranchisement

• promote black education, employment rights and justice in court

du bois role & contribution

• one of 2 black members of the founding board

• edited ‘the crisis’ shaping national Black opinion and recruiting members

• advocated immediate equality and political protest, contrasting Booker T's gradualness

criticisms of du bois

• seen as elitist, prioritising the educated “Talented Tenth”

• criticised for alienating white allies and clashing with leadership

• resigned in 1934 after disagreements over strategy and economic priorities

BT’s philosophy

• advocated “accommodationism” believing that AA should focus on economic self-improvement rather than immediate civil rights

• urged racial cooperation and self-help

• believed social equality would follow economic progress and respect

• promoted vocational training and hard work as a means to racial uplift

BT’s greatest triumpjs

• built Tuskegee Institute (1881) into major educational centre

• became one of most influential black leaders of his time

• raised huge funds from white benefactors (e.g. Cornegie, Rockefeller)

• Atlanta Compromise speech (1895) gained national attention

criticisms of BT

• accused of accepting white supremacy and betraying civil rights

• failed to challenge segregation and disenfranchisement directly

• his leadership seen as elitist and secretive- that “Tuskegee Machine” controlling black politics and press

• emphasized gradualism and accommodation, leading some to view him as too conciliatory towards racism.

• criticized for not advocating for immediate equal rights and for seeming to prioritize economic development over social justice.

• faced opposition from leaders like Du Bois who favored a more militant approach.

BT’s response to criticism

• secretly funded NAACP

• believed gradualism and pragmatism were more effective than confrontation in the hostile South