Dubois v. Washington DebatesThe African American Almanac located in Professor Tygiel's "Sites of Interest to History Majors" has a copy of Booker T. Washington's famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech he delivered in 1895. Neither before nor after, a speech it had such a profound effect on a politician's career and the people he sought to represent. Indeed, Washington's primacy was secured when he dramatically promised (eyewitness accounts see him stretching his hand forward to emphasize this point) the South that: “In all things which are purely social we may be as separated as the fingers , yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” The South, indeed America, quickly embraced Washington as the perfect leader to replace the defiant Frederick Douglass, who died in early 1895. Washington's solutions to the South's racial problem, his accommodating attitude towards white supremacy catapulted the thirty-nine-year-old pedagogist in the role of first leader and spokesperson of the race. Eventually opposition to Washington's policies arose within the group, and this opposition eventually crystallized around the leadership of W. E. B. Dubois, and their confrontation became known as the Dubois v. Debates. Washington. A rereading of the debates, although quite dated, offers an interesting perspective on Americana in the early 20th century. Of course, from a modern perspective, Dubois won the debates. This, however, overlooks the fact that Washington was the most popular and well-known leader at the time. And Dubois led a renegade faction that existed somewhat outside the establishment. Washington's sincerity shines through... middle of paper... from the South in ever-increasing numbers, despite Washington's support for the region. Indeed, by Washington's death in 1915, it was clearly evident that his vision of racial harmony in the South had failed. It was equally clear that white Southerners used his passivity to increase their oppression of blacks. Blacks lost the right to vote, but they did not gain economic security. Indeed, as Dubois had predicted, the group spent half a century struggling to regain the ground that Washington had so contemptuously thrown away in his Atlanta speech. Sources cited: ibid. 2< http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/mcgillbh.htm> Ralph McGill, “WEB Dubois” The Atlantic Monthly November 1965, 3.Ibid. 6. Booker T. Washington, “The Case of the Negro” The Atlantic Monthly November 1889 p.11.